Neomythic Alchemy

Neomythic Alchemy: A No Bullshit Approach to Everyday
Spiritual Balance
Forward
Life, at its beginning, is like a raindrop falling into

a rushing river. There is no momentum but for
that drawing you in. The river catches and pulls,
until your speed is nearly that of the water. This
is coming of age. You learn to swim, and the
current continues on pulling, no matter which way
you swim, ever downstream. This is the grown
adult. Finally, the river opens into an ocean,
carrying the raindrop, plump with nutrients, into
the great beyond. This is death. The sun warms
the ocean, and pure water becomes one with the
air again. This is what comes of it all.
We are born in a state of calm wonder. We're
not sure what we knew then; not certain we knew
anything at all beyond that we were in a new place.
Still, in dreams and visions, we can catch a glimpse
of that newly born serenity. It may be the only
time in life when abstracted anxieties and fears
hold no relevance; the only time when purpose
seems clear.
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Our culture has transformed the process of

growing up into a gradual acceptance of immersion
in a science-fiction nightmare. We're taught that
childhood implies innocence, and surely for some it
does. For far too many, though, it is marked by
indoctrination into systemic disconnection. Just
below the surface, a growing sense of alienation
has redefined the bulk of our everyday
interactions. We see that deception built upon
deception has become standard practice, and our
illusions are mistakenly taken for the way the
world works. Sometimes, we try to escape;
another town, another country, all to no avail.
Everywhere is just another flavor of bullshit
masquerading as progress. We try on love, drugs,
violence, seclusion, art, sex, money; all prove
plastic masks, pitiful in their attempts to take the
world as we see it and lend purpose to the insanity
of our civilization.
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I'm not writing this because I have found
answers. I'm writing this because I believe we've
largely lost the tools to seek out our own, real
answers. Many feel out of place in the world as
humans have shaped it. It feels too surreal; too
presumptuous; too doomed to reap a harvest
planted without due consideration.
It took a long time to reconcile my own nature
with the reality of existing in a world where
divinity is struggled against every step of the way.
It took longer still to recognize this reconciliation
as the easy part. The hard part, I discovered, lies
in reclaiming our divine right to consciously create
the agreements which constitute our perception of
reality. Together, we dream the world. Becoming
lucid in this dream, and aware of ourselves as an
origin of its content, restores our right to choose
what world we want to live in.
Part of why I'm writing this is to try and

introduce a language capable of facilitating honest
discussion of what I call experiential spirituality in
the context of our contemporary psychocultural
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environment. Another part of my motivation comes
from a recognition of the universally applicable
nature of spiritual transformation, as a context in
which any aspect of life can be engaged. Mostly,
though, I chose to write this for all the people who
feel like they're too insignificant and isolated to
truly make a difference.
We can know only what we know, and that is very

little. We can learn how to sit in silence. We can
learn how to dream the world. That's about it.
Whatever we were before this, or might become
after this, we are this right now.
I used to believe in the future. I used to believe

in humanity. I used to believe in myself. Now, I
believe in none of these things. If anyone survives
the future we've created, it'll be a miracle. Our
modern social order is like a boat floating down a
river. Global homogenization of culture has led us
to scrap all but the biggest boat. We call the boat
civilization, but it's rarely civilized. The river's
current has been picking up. Not too far up,
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there's a waterfall. If we jump off the boat and
swim for shore, we might drown. If we go over
the waterfall, however, death is certain. The
further we go, the faster the current becomes,
the more dangerous it becomes to swim for shore,
and the more likely others in the boat are to use
force to keep us there with them. Mostly, people
just try to stick to the middle of the boat to avoid
getting splashed or shifting the boat's balance.
Yup, stay in the middle of the boat all the way to
the waterfall. Bunch of geniuses, we are.
The madness we face is mirrored in the tone of

the information we're perpetually fed. Between
its relative degrees of accuracy and the spirit in
which it's presented, something crucial gets lost.
That something has to do with the perceived
inability to personally address the difficulties we
see around us all the time, and it makes us crazy.
It's an insanity born of unfulfilled emotional
desires and crippling thought patterns. It's fed
by submission to artificial separation coupled with
the undeniable importance of the individual's
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intrinsic value. The madness of modernity is its
denial of the ever-present spirit of divinity that
permeates all aspects of our experience.
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Table of Contents
Forward............................................................................1
A poetic and not terribly important author's note
Introduction..................................................................11
Sets the stage for the actual content of the book,
illustrating the context of its everyday usefulness
Section One: Personalizing Transformation
Deprogramming.............................................................29
Begins to develop a language for communicating these
matters
Defining an Effective Spiritual Model...................43

Getting down to the work
Statement of Belief.....................................................49
Illustrating an incredibly useful exercise for examining
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personal, experiential spirituality
Evolution One: The First Bridge...........................57

A little story to consider, followed by a brief
commentary on its symbolic interpretation
Evolution Two: Redefining the Change................65

Musings on spiritual evolution, and the growing need for
spiritual models to bridge the gap between worlds
Spiritual Honesty......................................................71
Considering the all-important concept of honesty in the
context of our purposes
Section Two: Cooperative Spirituality
Power, Efficiency, and the Group.........................79

Establishing emphasis on the inherently collaborative
nature of the development and application of effective
spiritual models
E.F.O.T.........................................................................89
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A natural response to a new set of boundaries
Letting Go...................................................................93
Something everyone does, yet no one seems to want to
do
The Spirit Worker's Role.....................................103

An essential, and yet largely missing, component of
everyday life
~Side Note: The Early Christian Church...........111

Musings on the origins of one of “The Big Three”
religions, and its potential usefulness
Section Three: Redefining Everyday Change
Dissent........................................................................117
The expression of which marks a prelude to
transformation
Building Strategy.....................................................127
Includes naming assumptions; the three “D's”
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(Diversification, Decentralization, and Discipline), and a
process-oriented commentary on effective utilization of
resources, as well as a look at the nature of debt in our
culture
Action..........................................................................161
A brief look at awareness in the way things get done
Beyond the Bullshit: Our Stories.........................165

Examining how what we tell ourselves forms the
foundations for experiential reality; Includes two
“bullshit” examples
Developing Narrative.............................................177
Examining narrative development as a potent tool for
making sense of the nonsense in our lives, as well as a
means to take responsibility for experience without our
contemporary mindset mucking it up
Owning Our Days....................................................183

On the potential of defining our own interpretive
frameworks for the mythic stories we share. Includes a
reasonably thorough examination of a popular biblical
story, whose presently acceptable interpretations don't
really cut it
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Conclusion..................................................................195
Yup, that's about it for this book
The End of the Book Section...............................199

Generally called an appendix. Includes brief glossary of
some of the more esoteric terms (What Was That Guy
Talking About?), a summary of the process this book
describes, and a personal bit about the author
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Introduction
And thus my friend, mankind, does sow

the seeds of all we ever feared
I kissed a star that I might know
My lips were burned. My soul was seared
And near the end I hear a shriek
The sound of sword against a stone
and as these eyes begin to leak
I learn the truth I should have known
Thus blown in wind this now sown seed
has grown to bear its heavy fruit
Say what you will inside this life
the human seed has taken root
This book isn't about religion, politics, or any of

the other ridiculously complicated games we play.
Instead, this book is about our evolution and
survival; humanity's honest chances and hope for
the future. It's easy to point out problems, but
the problems we face presently demand a new
approach. The aim of this book is to aid in the
development of that approach. A growing number
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of people contend that we, as a species, are
entering a phase in history which will singularly
determine our continued viability. I share this
viewpoint. If you, the reader, do not, it's probably
not in my power, or interest, to try and convince
you otherwise.
If you think, for example, that innovations in
technology or political ideology or art will save us,
or that we don't need saving at all; if you contend
that we have the time to gradually move at a
moderate pace away from the absurd
destructiveness characterizing our collective
lifestyle; if you genuinely believe that the gods
we've manufactured will save us from ourselves,
it's probably best to stop reading. I'd rather not
waste your time. This book wasn't written for you.
If, on the other hand, you're ready to take
responsibility for participating in the world you
choose to create; if you find yourself feeling
prepared to do what is necessary to transform the
lead you were given into gold; if you know there
must be a way to accomplish what many say is
impossible, then read on. And enjoy.
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The value of a story lies not in its ability to

describe the world we live in, but in its capacity to
engage our culture's constituents. The degree to
which a story approximates consensual reality is
far less important than the way it speaks to the
consciousness behind that reality, for our stories
form a foundational mechanism for apprehending
the effects of the unseen upon our conscious
minds.
Our story begins and ends far beyond the scope
of any one book; beyond even the scope of any one
lifetime. Like a forever expanding puzzle without
edges, each piece added can serve only to further
develop the already complete picture. Every single
question is first a spiritual question; every conflict
a spiritual conflict. Before a thought ever enters
the mind, the spirit has made its choice. Without
learning to come from a place of spiritual
centeredness in our decision-making processes, we
risk losing one of our primary mechanisms for
effective discernment between beneficial and
detrimental courses of action.
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We find ourselves living in a strange situation; a
situation unprecedented in our species' known
history. The interpretations of just what is going
on are varied, ranging from end-of-the-world
doomsday scenarios to alien invasion to everybody
all of the sudden loving each other and getting cool
superpowers. Regardless of what's really
happening, there's a growing realization that
something really important, pivotal even, is going on
within our collective body. The thing is, we have no
way of knowing what we don't know, and we still
have to make decisions.
In a society of summaries and flashing snippets,

it's all too easy to fall into believing that we know
what we don't, in truth, know. Problems arrive
when we base actions on what we don't know, as is
plainly evidenced by history. If we insist on acting
on unsound assumptions, we can not lament any
horrors that might befall us, nor can we take pride
in any of our future accomplishments, for we've
chosen to waste our opportunity to consciously
craft our destinies. Learning from such situations
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is difficult, and yet far easier than our present
strategy of repeating the same mistakes time and
time again.
Now, it has been argued that synchronicity in
chance events is something of a communication
between the universe and the individual. Even if
that were presumed true, and I see no reason to
presume otherwise, the chaos in such “chance
events” is purely the product of our inherently
imperfect consciousness. True clarity, as such, is
beyond the capacity of our reason. Our minds can
never be greater than tools of our spirits. We
can't escape the apparent chaos in the world, but
we do have a choice in whether to make, or not
make, unfounded assumptions about the nature of
that chaos. We can choose how we respond to the
unknowable order we find ourselves in.
Everything we consciously know comes either

through physical perception of the world, or is a
model we've adopted in order to better
understand those perceptions. A model is not a
replacement for a perception, nor is a perception a
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replacement for a model. According to the science
of our times, pretty much everything we perceive
can be characterized as radiation. We call it light,
sound, or neural impulse, and are led to believe
that life consists of biology reacting to
environmental (both internal and external) stimuli.
Our models, then, are the means by which we
consider and interpret these biological perceptions
of radiation. These models naturally evolve over
the course of time. If they don't, they cease
being effective, as their function is tied to a
specific and perpetually changing environmental
context. The use of ineffective models leads to
ineffective actions, which, in turn, lead to
ineffective societies. This is particularly true of
spiritual models, due to their often subconscious,
and always central, role in determining the "right"
course of action in any given situation.
History provides us with more examples of
effective spiritual models than contemporary
society does. Most likely, this is for no other
reason than the inherent over-simplification of
nuance and meaning necessarily present in
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examining the past. Complicated things are, after
all, easier to look at through the lens of memory.
Without their proper cultural context, however,
these historically effective models lose their
foundation. Their essential interpretive capacity is
diminished with every lost metaphor. Symbol and
meaning are separated, then confused with one
another and interpreted inappropriately. As our
present cultural context is changing more rapidly
with each passing day, any model we use to try and
make sense of things must be dynamic enough to
flow with these changes.
The symbolic representation of sacred meaning
is a primary function of an effective spiritual
model. This obviously raises the question, "What is
sacred to us?" To answer this question in a
thoughtful manner, it seems important to balance
the general psychocultural interpretations of
“sacred” with impressions of sacredness in the
more personal realm of individual existence. In
other words, there are widely agreed upon notions
of “sacred” which are influenced by, yet separate
from, personal perceptions of sacredness.
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Distinguishing the personally sacred from societal
agreements about what is sacred, when necessary,
is accomplished by the spiritual model a person
uses, regardless of whether the model is conscious
or unconscious in nature.
In the not-too-distant past, spiritual leaders
served a wide variety of functions, which have
since evolved into highly specialized fields. They
were, in some cultures, also the doctors, scientists,
lawyers, artists, historians, poets, judges,
mathematicians, fire-makers, masons,
metallurgists, etc. In the process of allowing
these separated specialist roles to develop, we've
overlooked a few of the essential functions served
by historical spiritual leaders. By seeing science as
world-view instead of a method, and mistaking
religion for spirituality, we've created a situation
in which complimentary elements of our culture are
viewed as mutually exclusive. The absurdity of
pitting two sides of the same coin against each
other should be obvious, and would be, but we seem
to have forgotten the thickness connecting these
sides.
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By and large, the cultural context required for
traditional spiritual models to be effective has
fallen away, while politicized religion has caused a
comparatively few spiritual traditions to be
adopted, generally through violence or threat of
violence, by vast populations. Each of these few
religions has branched out into widely divergent
sects, often utterly changing the religion's
teachings to suit the temporal desires of all-too-
human leaders. While this natural diversification
has gone a long way towards adapting these few
traditional spiritual models to changing cultural
contexts, it's pretty apparent that an awful lot of
people employ increasingly ineffective spiritual
models. Models which, as a matter of course, were
initially adopted as the last resort of conquered
cultures.
New social roles have increasingly sprung up as a
psychocultural expression of response to the need
for effective spiritual models. Some roles, like
the self-help guru, are primarily socioeconomic in
nature. Others, like the schizophrenic beggar-
prophet, have an abstracted and overtly psycho-
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spiritual bent. That these are extreme examples
is less important than the understanding that they
speak to a very serious human need that is not
being met. My contention is that we need
effective spiritual models in the context of a
contemporary culture that lacks even a semblance
of cohesion. Further, I would put forth that this
need is immediate; that failing to address it might
well threaten our continuing survival.
I know it sounds far-fetched, but it's the honest
conclusion I've come to based on my not-
insignificant experience in these matters. I'm not
saying that there aren't many people with
personally effective spiritual models. What I am
saying is that unless there is a shift in our spiritual
understandings commensurate with the enormous
paradigm shift which our physical and social
technologies have caused the global population to
undergo, the ineffective spiritual models evidenced
by many have the increasing potential to create
utterly catastrophic results.
You're probably wondering where I am going with
this. The truth is, I've kind of been dancing
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around the primary subject of this book. The real
issue is conscious action. Thoughts are actions.
Feelings are actions. Becoming conscious of our
actions is essential to clarifying our true
intentions, and is the most important avenue we
have to engage our spiritual process in everyday
life. With conscious action comes awareness of
our energetic responsibility in the physical world.
Awareness of this responsibility on an individual
level is a deciding factor in human evolution. It's
not the mighty tyrant, but the acquiescing slave-
mind, which has so effectively disempowered us in
our own lives. We cast our leaders as scapegoats,
shifting the responsibility for the direction our
lives take onto their undeserving shoulders,
however corrupted those shoulders may be.
It's far from easy to take real responsibility for
our actions. Everything in our society appears to
be telling us that we're responsible for how we use
our energy. The way society functions does the
opposite, however, and effectively leads us to
believe that we're not really responsible for our
lives. To serve the goals of our current society is
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to support a way of life at war with life's essence;
serving our works and fancies, instead of our true
function as co-creators of the world in partnership
with divinity. Make no mistake, any furtherance of
this artificial-construct reality is a deal with "the
devil."
Where then, you might be wondering, does that
leave us? What the hell are we supposed to do?
Many of the books I've read about modern
approaches to everyday spirituality try to appeal
to a wide variety of readers by saying we can
evolve spiritually without being too different from
mainstream society's expectations of us. The
more realistic authors usually mention something in
passing about restoring economic equality as an
important, yet distant and impersonal societal goal.
Other authors focus on a single facet of a complex
problem: don't eat meat, but it's okay to work in a
strip-mall. Don't smoke, but it's okay to drive.
Convenience doesn't play into spirituality even a
little bit, but it's tough to sell truth. The truth,
though, is right in front of us all the time. All we
have to do is allow ourselves the freedom to
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engage in the natural process of acting in service
to our spirits.
One of the most valuable lessons presented by
this process relates to its difficulty. Learning to
live as an extension of the spirit has become one
of the most challenging endeavors a person can
attempt in this world we've created. It's not easy,
not by a long shot. It's not easy because it's TOO
EASY. We're so accustomed to complexity that
the simple nature of the spirit appears frightfully
foreign. Our self-inflated human minds tell us
there must be more to it. There is, of course, but
it all starts with getting to know the simple spirit.
The psychocultural resistance to spiritual living is
the formidable shell which has both protected us
in our germination and prevented us from seeing
beyond ourselves . Eventually this shell must be
broken and discarded if we're to see the world for
what it is. Consider every person who doubts your
resolve a gift to exercise and strengthen your
spirit; every uncertain moment facing
overwhelming odds an opportunity to see the
nature of that spirit.
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Returning to balance demands practical steps, and
a few are easily named. Prayer, meditation, and
contemplation, however you choose to practice
them, are three essential components of any
spiritual practice. Prayer is actively engaging in
communication with the spirit, meditation is a
receptive observation of the spirit, and
contemplation is an honest consideration of the
spirit. It doesn't matter if your prayer is hugging
a loved one or shouting at the sky from a mountain
top. It doesn't matter if your meditation is doing
a crossword puzzle or fasting in full lotus. It
doesn't matter if your contemplation is carried out
on a bus or in a cave. What matters, above all, is
that you engage these processes in the manner
best suited to your particular situation. What
matters is the authenticity of these actions, and
the spirit of sincerity in engaging these practices.
In the following chapters, I'll discuss my

reasoning in greater detail as necessary. For the
sake of clarity, this book is divided into three
sections. The ideas put forth here are presented
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in sequence, so if you skip around, at first, it might
be confusing. My intention here is not to try and
convince you of anything, but rather to explore the
actual process of creating and implementing
effective spiritual models in the context provided
by everyday life.
Many authors give great attention to describing
detailed problems. I won't presume their level of
knowledge on the issues we face as humans on the
planet now. My approach is founded on the
intrinsic value of individuated experiential reality,
and isn't dependent on imposing any single spiritual
model. I'm not going to claim enlightenment, or
even competence. I'll simply try to be honest and
human.
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Section One:
Personalizing Transformation
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Deprogramming
Evolution is always progressing towards

diversity, as diversity increases the probability of
effective adaptation to environmental change.
Experiencing a constantly increasing rate of
environmental change, as we are, implies the need
for our species to undergo a commensurate
diversification. In order to begin examining this,
I've chosen here to view the environment in terms
of two categories: Bioenvironment and
Psychocultural environment.
For the purposes of this text, our bodies are
considered as internal bioenvironments. The
external bioenvironments are seen as the physical
planetary system, separate from human
technologies, that our internal bioenvironments
interact with. Psychocultural environment is the
term used here to describe the social and
technological environment created by us; the
human inventions we have integrated into our
understanding of the environment we interact with
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in the course of everyday life.
By and large, our species has been replacing the
bioenvironmental with the psychocultural, both
internally and externally. Externally, we've
changed the face of the earth to such an extent
that it's nearly impossible to experience and
interact with any purely bioenvironmental system.
We live almost exclusively inside of the
technologies we've created. Our internal
bioenvironments, likewise, have been marginalized
and transformed by our psychocultural
environment. In seeing the body as a mere
machine, and our technology as the means to
optimize that machine, we assign artificial primacy
to our technology while undermining our own
internal bioenvironmental response network. An
obvious effect of this, in my opinion, is that our
evolution has become merely a perpetual
adaptation to our own contrivances. Essentially, we
seem to be collectively saying,"We know better
than the universe what our direction is. We can
best create the biological environment in which we
evolve."
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The greatest difficulty with this is that our
actual evolution has been undermined as
technological evolution replaces human evolution.
Because this technology is a human construct, our
ability to adapt to diverse environmental changes
has become largely stagnant. We change the
environment with technology, attempt to adapt to
that technology, and judge an individual's value to
overall society on the basis of the effectiveness of
that person's adaptation to technology. The
implicit hubris in this way of doing things is almost
overwhelming. It's as if the world wasn't good
enough for us, so we have been making it as we see
fit, and then judging ourselves based primarily on
our ability to adapt to the imaginary world we
ourselves invented.
A Simple Model
The self can be likened to a glass of water; as our

bodies are made up mostly of water, this symbol
appears to make sense on a base level. Now,
looking at all the information we receive in the
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context of contrasts determining our perception,
this bioenvironmental-psychocultural duality can be
easily viewed here symbolically. The information is
represented by two dissimilar additives to the
glass of water. I've chosen pellets of salt and
pellets of wax for this analogy, as most everyone is
familiar with these substances.
The salt pellets dissolve in water as easily as we
integrate bioenvironmental information into our
being. The wax pellets float on the surface of the
water, similar to the visible influence of
psychocultural information on the surface of our
personalities. Both types of pellets are added
from the moment we're born. They're then
integrated in proportion to the degree our society
places importance on noticing and adapting to new
pellets of each type of information.
The process of coming of age can be likened to
applying heat to the glass. The salt is completely
integrated into the water, while the wax melts on
the water's surface. The wax covers the water
entirely, while never really becoming integrated as
a part of its actual composition. From this point
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forward, any salt pellets trying to reach the water
must pass through the wax layer, much as any new
bioenvironmental information is filtered by our
psychocultural definitions of acceptability (with
respect to the potential for us to integrate this
information into a coherent world view). An
example of this might be found in the common
experience of "catching a cold."
Our internal bioenvironment sends us information,
but before this information can be integrated, our
psychocultural "wax layer" must give it both
definition and context. Response to this stimuli, as
dictated by psychocultural definitions, takes on a
different form than it would if the "salt pellet"
were simply allowed to dissolve in the "water".
Common culturally acceptable responses to this
specific stimuli include taking medication to treat
the symptoms associated with the cold,
consideration of the illness as the unavoidable
result of exposure to someone already sick, and
complaining about the inconvenience of the illness.
These are all products of the psychocultural "wax
layer" filtering the bioenvironmental "salt pellets",
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and may or may not have anything to do with the
biological reality of the situation.
Taking this symbolic representation further, the
heat applied to the glass can be likened to a
"cultural flame" which serves its own agenda; the
uniform bonding of a culture's constituents to
their psychocultural environment. It represents
the force of social indoctrination; the role society
plays in coming-of-age. As with so many things,
this flame has the capacity to both serve and
damage a culture and its members.
We're all programmed thoroughly. Most of us

adamantly deny it, even to ourselves. Our
collective position here can be likened to sharing a
psychocultural boat. Everyone who takes more
energy than they can replace has drilled a hole in
front of them. It used to be that surface tension
kept the boat afloat. Only a few people had holes
in front of them for a long time, so mostly we
believe these holes are no big deal. Recently, some
of us have noticed that water has begun coming in
faster and faster through our holes, so we try to
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plug them up. Some of us, having tried our best to
plug our own holes, notice the boat is still taking on
more and more water. We look around, and notice
billions of little holes. We try to bail out some of
the water while attempting to convince other
people to plug their holes and set to bailing. "Why
should we", they say,"In our whole entire history,
we've never had to do that!"
Our global psychocultural system creates an

unnatural momentum. The comfort afforded us by
stealing the resource-inheritance of future
generations adds to this momentum. The
arrogance born of our bloody victories against the
weak and impoverished does the same. We're only
feeding the monster we've created, providing it
with the strength it needs to finally consume us.
It's a Faustian arrangement if ever there was one.
In such circumstances, it's almost impossible to
shed our programming. Almost, but not quite.
Just about every spiritual tradition has a built-in
method for accomplishing precisely this. Jesus
taught an absolute rebirth in the spirit. Alcoholics
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Anonymous teaches the taking of a fearless
personal inventory. Carlos Castaneda wrote about
recapitulation. These aren't just empty rituals or
dogmatic dictates, they're real and potentially
effective tools for psychocultural deprogramming.
The methods themselves aren't important. Indeed,
without their proper respective contexts, they can
do more harm than good. What is important are
the results; the complete transmutation of
psychocultural programming. For an effective
spiritual model to be developed consciously, that
which has previously proved itself ineffective must
be excised. Deprogramming, on some level, must
occur.
It's kind of like clearing a garden plot of weeds
and debris, then turning compost into the soil.
Deprogramming makes way for a seed to be
planted. The seed itself might not grow, but now
the situation is such that it has the opportunity to
take root and begin drawing nourishment from its
surroundings.
It's funny, no one wants to think of themselves
as programmed, yet we all are. We simply can't
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help it. It's a prerequisite for social functionality
on any level. The thing is, our programming is
clearly interfering with our long-term judgment.
For all its perceived short term benefits, it fails
miserably in the essential area of sustainability.
Programming itself is not the issue. The issue,
instead, is the harmful programming which
essentially forces us to live out of balance.
"Brainwashed" is a term that came out of our

society's inability to understand the feelings of
Korean War veterans, some of whom displayed an
inexplicably positive attitude towards their
"enemies". The imagery presented by the term
struck a chord in the American psyche, despite a
distinct lack of evidence regarding even the
possibility of anyone being literally "brainwashed".
We're social beings, and as such are susceptible to
varying levels of influence. We can be influenced
to an often astonishing degree, but never
"brainwashed". The term gained widespread
popularity as a blanket label involving people
participating in non-mainstream religious groups,
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and now is applied to all kinds of situations.
The reason I bring this up here is two-fold.
First, it has to do with the potential social
ramifications for someone who is truly
deprogrammed. If you are part of a spiritually
oriented group that utilizes an effective
deprogramming method, it may well be labeled a
"cult". Because deprogramming changes a person,
and most people are programmed to hate and fear
change, your friends and family might have
problems coping with the “new” you. They may
even attempt to have you medicated or
hospitalized ("treated"). In extreme cases, they'll
hire a "deprogrammer" to reprogram you. The
point is, don't expect understanding or love or
anything else to interfere with the direction of
the dominant psychocultural wind in present,
everyday life. If you're effectively
deprogrammed, it's safest to keep a pretty low
profile until you've fully integrated a new
psychospiritual model into your life, and can clearly
articulate that model when called upon to do so.
The other reason I bring this up is the
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temptation for those who see themselves as
outside the dominant psychocultural mindset to
label those perceived to be inside of it as
"brainwashed". Once you think you see through
the bullshit of media, politics, etc. it's easy to fall
into thinking the program is transparent in the
eyes of others. From there, it's just a small step
to assume that everyone should be able to see
what you see, even though you didn't always see it
that way. Part of how we act when we hit upon
something new or different involves trying to
recruit others to our viewpoints, in order to
somehow reaffirm their "rightness" internally.
Not only is this bad social form, it's detrimental to
the personal development and integration of new,
potentially valuable viewpoints.
Historically, ritual death and rebirth has been
used as an effective tool for psychocultural
deprogramming. With the resurgence of earth-
based religion on the fringes of our society's
spiritual environment, increasing awareness of the
importance of psychocultural deprogramming has
led to an increased interest in death-and-rebirth
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concepts. Learning the concepts and studying
historically effective models, however, is a far cry
from finding and integrating an effective model
into modern, everyday life.
For any death-and-rebirth process to be
effective, it must have a social context. This might
be as small as a prayer between you and another
person, as in some Christian traditions. This seems
to be a reasonably firm requirement for any
effective spiritual model. It makes sense, because
if just one person believes differently from
everyone else, their sanity is called into question,
and often times even within their own thought
process. Also, support from some kind of
community helps both to reinforce recently
acquired principals, and provides a necessary
refuge from an often hostile overall psychocultural
environment.
Now, deprogramming itself is only the death part
of death-and-rebirth. The rebirth part is a little
more complicated, as it is as widely variant as the
people experiencing it. In order to accommodate
this, most traditional models impose strict rules of
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conduct as a framework to support the new, reborn
self. This is generally done with the assumption
that the external structure will eventually become
internalized, kind of like tying a seedling tree to a
pole until it has grown strong enough to stand on
its own. Mistaking the pole for the tree's
integrity has become all too common, though, in a
society where a single paraphrased window into a
given phenomenon is substituted for an
understanding of the phenomenon. In other words,
cultivation of new disciplines is helpful, but
believing those disciplines to be anything other
than an external support structure for the
cultivation of an internal belief system is not.
It bears mentioning that it's not unusual in our
culture to see the honest need for psychocultural
deprogramming exploited for profit. Try finding a
free spiritual retreat and you'll see what I mean.
I've even heard some wannabe spiritual leaders
state that the enlightenment of humanity will come
about as more and more people PAY (them) for
spiritual guidance. What a load of crap; No one
with even a cursory understanding of true
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spirituality would ask for a single cent in exchange
for spiritual knowledge, let alone thousands of
dollars.
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Defining an Effective Spiritual Model
I've chosen to use the term “effective spiritual

model” for a reason, and should probably explain it
more thoroughly at this point. When I say “model”
here, what I mean is interpretive framework. It's
something like the structure which governs
communication between our inner and outer worlds.
An effective spiritual model, then, would be a
framework that does a good job translating
between the spiritual aspect of our internal and
external realities.
In looking at what defines an effective spiritual
model, I enlisted the help of some dozen lay-
persons, as well as numerous writings. Though I
also consulted many so-called professionals on the
matter, it seemed sensible to draw mostly from
those individuals I come into contact with in the
course of everyday life. It's these people, and not
the “professionals”, who comprise the bulk of the
reality I actually experience.
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We tried to examine the common threads in as
many spiritual models, both historic and
contemporary, as we could find. With the
understanding that getting at the quinta essentia
of effective spiritual models may not be entirely
possible, we sought to identify as many essential
elements as we could. This is by no means a
complete or comprehensive list, but we worked on
it until no further tweaking seemed appropriate.
I've chosen to present this list in intentionally
abstracted and somewhat confusing terms. This
was done for the express purpose of creating a
situation which attempts to require you, the
reader, to translate its contents into your own
words. All too often, the wording used to describe
such things becomes an impediment to evaluating
their potential efficacy, and the concepts here are
far more important than the words used to
describe them. If you come across an unfamiliar
concept here (like “holographic energetic system”,
for example) don't worry about it. There's a
section at the end of the book which describes the
more esoteric concepts, titled “What Was that
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Guy Talking About?” written just for you. Anyway,
here's what we came up with when we tried to
define what characterizes an “effective spiritual
model.”
Characteristics of an effective spiritual model:
~Reflects holographic energetic systems, with

emphasis on individual interaction within
holographic energetic systems.
~Defines, in concrete terms, the process of
personal progression within universal holographic
energetic systems.
~Clearly lays out the degree to which an individual
is responsible for their own use of energies, as well
as the actual effects of their energy usage. Also
the entity or entities to whom the individual is
responsible are given consideration with respect to
the nature of the relationship between individual
and entity(s).
~Possesses practicality, social context, and the
indefinable sacred.
~As the model is created and used by a biological
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organism, its structure reflects that of the
organism. It can grow and change with time, yet
maintains its genetically predetermined form; i.e. a
baby human can't turn into a goat over time.
~Humans are innately social creatures; the product
of our cooperative efforts is greater than the sum
of its parts. An effective spiritual model reflects
this understanding, as both its formulation and its
evolution are products of a cooperative effort.
~Has the potential for beneficial mutual
interdependence with virtually any other effective
spiritual model.
~Finally, and most importantly, it is EFFECTIVE.
It works for the individual as both apart from, and
a part of, the individual's community context, as
well as the larger body of humanity.
Near as any of us could tell, each of these

elements was exhibited by every effective
spiritual model we examined. None seem to be any
more or less important than any other in pointing
to a given model's effectiveness. From this point
on, I intend to try and muddle my way through
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describing the process of creating and integrating
an effective spiritual model within the context of
everyday life. Our psychocultural environment has
created some pretty inaccurate perceptions of
spirituality, and taught us to respond to the
emotions triggered by these perceptions when the
subject of spirituality is approached. With this in
mind, we can begin to explore some practical
methods of addressing spiritual issues.
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Statement of Belief
The process of creating an effective spiritual

model is an ongoing, rather than finite, process
which is tailored to an individual's specific need.
The model's manifest form can be quite fluid, so
long as it works within the boundaries provided by
an agreement. Some set of agreed-upon
characteristics of an effective spiritual model
must be adopted for this process to be successful.
The characteristics I've laid out are by no means a
definitive set, yet they can potentially serve our
purpose here in a variety of ways. They are the
product of a group effort, agreed upon by
consensus within the specific social context of
non-specialists. They are both reasonably
comprehensive and concise. Further, they provide
a solid basis by which to judge the potential for
effectiveness exhibited by any given spiritual
model, with very little intentional bias. The
model's function is static (fixed), while it's form is
dynamic (fluid).
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After looking at what describes effective

spiritual models in general, it makes sense to begin
describing how your own spiritual model is
specifically different from other models. One
exercise that can be incredibly helpful at this
point in the development of an effective spiritual
model is the creation of a Personal Statement of
Belief. There's an old alchemical process which is
similar to what I'm talking about, that I think
illustrates the concept nicely.
To obtain the pure essence of a substance is a
two step process. The first step is extraction,
which is pulling a pure compound from an impure
source. In our situation, this step entails agreeing
on what defines an effective spiritual model. This
agreement is the extraction of distinct
characteristics (the pure compound) from an
undefined belief about what describes an
effective spiritual model (the impure source).
The second part of the process is washing, which
is separating out the impurities from a pure source
to obtain the pure essence. For us here, this
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means separating a distinct, personal model (the
essence) from all other potentially effective, yet
personally irrelevant, spiritual models out there
(the impurities). A personal statement of belief is
the pure essence which this process creates.
Here's an example of a rough, generic, personal
statement of belief which conforms to the
characteristics put forth earlier, that might form
the basis for an effective spiritual model:
I believe, literally, that Godh is everything; that

everything that exists is made up of little pieces
of Godh; that Godh is utterly incomprehensible in
its scope, if it can even be said that "scope"
applies to Godh in any objective sense. Godh is its
own context. (To clarify briefly, "Godh” is an older,
Icelandic spelling of the English word "God", and is
a gender neutral, rather than masculine, term for
the universal creative force).
I believe everything moves in interconnected
cycles; that the essence of existence is variation
in energy flow; that the interpretations I assign to
my perceptions of these energy flow variations,
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determine, in a way I can't possibly fathom yet
might potentially infer, my individual make-up as it
relates to the world around me.
I believe that in order to reach my potential for
contribution to the whole, it's necessary for me to
thrive. In order for my contribution to the whole
to reach its own potential, it's necessary for me to
take nothing more than I need to thrive. My actual
need in terms of energy is relatively small
compared to my potential to contribute energies to
my co-creation of the world.
I believe I own nothing, but rather have
temporary decision making power as to the use of
some of my energy. There can be no guaranties as
to the amount of time this decision making power
will be retained by me. As Godh loaned me this
energy, and has a non-negotiable repayment plan
beyond my comprehension, all of life is lived in
debt. Ultimately, I am responsible to Godh for the
use of my energies. As I can't comprehend Godh,
yet am surrounded and permeated by its
manifestations, my responsibility is to the
conglomeration of all Godh's perceptible
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manifestations, i.e. Physical Reality.
I believe physical reality is an inherently biased
projection of a greater energetic reality; that the
two mirror each other in one's ability to affect
change in the other; and that I, as a human, am
built with limited yet tangible facility for
perceiving and acting in both physical and
energetic reality.
This statement of belief could form the basis for

a spiritual model. The more clearly a person can
see exactly which beliefs determine personal
perceptions of spirituality, the easier it becomes
for that person to construct an effective spiritual
model. The example above both expresses a set of
beliefs and addresses each of the previously
presented characteristics of effective spiritual
models. This may seem unnecessary for those
individuals who say simply "I believe what I
believe; it's none of your business." I would argue,
that though an individual's spirituality is really no
one's business, the individual is responsible for
their own spiritual progress, if only to themselves.
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As no one lives in a vacuum, and we're innately
social beings, the ability to clearly communicate a
spiritual model is a prerequisite for positive
development of that model in the context of
everyday life. Also, many of our unarticulated
beliefs are entirely unfounded, while many of our
articulated beliefs are in need of a context in
which to evolve.
So long as it clearly addresses some set of
agreed-upon characteristics of an effective
spiritual model, your statement of belief can be as
specific or as general as you want to make it. The
goal is not to write down a set of life rules, but to
begin to describe a perception of your own
spiritual roles and responsibilities. Keeping in mind
that the belief statement can evolve along with
the spiritual model makes it easier. There's no
pressure to "get it perfect" on the first try. Or
the tenth. Remember, a tree's seed is right for
its stage in development; so also is a sapling for its
developmental stage, and so on. The statement of
belief is the seed which grows into maturity as the
spiritual model evolves.
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From this point on, we're in a sort of no-man's-

land. Everyone utilizes some type of spiritual
model, be it consciously or otherwise. It's more
acceptable in our society for a person to alter or
adopt an existing spiritual model than to attempt
to create their own. Also, contemporary society
tends to view the exhibiting any kind of
"unconventional" religious or spiritual practices,
especially those which happen to employ direct,
symbolic interface with the “supernatural”, as
symptoms of mental illness.
In defining the creation of an effective spiritual
model as a partially, and necessarily social process,
it is hoped that the checks and balances
introduced by dialog will overcome both delusion
and psychocultural resistance. This is an ideal, and
definitely not a given. It takes real work.
Buddhists have the "sanga", or practicing
community of spiritual aspirants. Christian doctrine
dictates that "wherever two or more (people) are
gathered in his (God's) name, he (God) will be
there. The co-creation of an effective spiritual
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model can be realized as long as there is more than
one person agreeing with it. Though this
collaboration can take place in a variety of forms,
it must take place. If one person believes
different than every other person, they're insane.
If a handful of people believe the same thing,
regardless of how mainstream society views that
thing, they form a community of believers in
support of ideas held in common.
This process is not about inventing deities to
worship or talk to, forming or joining exclusive
social clubs, making political or cultural
statements, getting more physically fit, or
accumulating material wealth. This process is
about learning to become conscious as a human on
the planet now. It seeks to provide a means to
develop the facilities for knowing, in a space and
time specific fashion, your own process for
discerning the truth and utilizing available energy.
An effective spiritual model is a personalized
manual for what to do in a given situation. It's not
about finding "the right way.” Instead, it's about
an individual finding their own "right way" with the
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help of others engaged in the same process, even
when nothing seems right.
Evolution 1: The Bridge
Okay, so there's this bridge over a rushing river.

It's a really old bridge. While folks kind of know
when it was built, the records are pretty fuzzy.
Hundreds, if not thousands of years ago, someone
carved the words,"This is the only bridge to
cross..." The words used to go on a bit further,
some folks think. There's quite a few people who
say the words were carved by the original builders
of the bridge, enough that pretty much no one
challenges the claim.
Eventually the bridge gets kind of old and
rickety. Still, more and more people cross it every
day. Every year or two, someone breaks through
the floor. The bridge is repaired, and life goes on.
To pay for the repairs, each person pays a small
toll to cross the bridge. This goes on for hundreds
of years.
Finally, the bridge gets rickety enough to really
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start making people nervous. The folks maintaining
the bridge begin getting more complaints than they
can handle. This makes them even more nervous.
As it turns out, a couple of them had totally
skimped on the repairs and kept a bunch of toll
money for themselves. They hastily made a plan
for a new bridge to slowly replace the old in a safe
and uniform way. To pay for it, they charged
people a whole bunch more money at the tolls. Lots
of folks couldn't pay.
Some got really mad because they couldn't
afford the toll anymore, yet they still needed to
cross the bridge. A few got so mad, they started
to vent their anger by damaging the bridge when
they crossed it. The toll takers had to then
charge even more, to pay folks to catch the people
damaging the bridge. Mostly, folks figured out
how to pay the toll. They needed to use the bridge
just about every day, after all. The toll takers
then decided to try to help people out by giving
them free passes if they promise to pay double
their next time through. This works for a bit, but
then the toll takers start noticing lots of people
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don't keep good on their word. They start forcing
these folks to work off their debt by repairing the
bridge, and had to charge an even higher toll to
pay for training these folks to work on the bridge.
Soon, really a lot of people are working either on
the bridge, or for the toll takers. "Stay away
from the edges," they say. "It's the only bridge to
cross," they say. One day, a guy goes down to the
edge of the river. He has to sneak down there,
because the toll takers pay people to throw anyone
in jail who tries to go near the river, as anyone
near the river might be trying to damage the
bridge. So this guy goes down there, and finds a
rope that he figures must have fallen off the
bridge. Then he hears a noise like footsteps, so he
gets really scared, thinking it's the toll-takers'
henchmen. Without thinking, he ties one end of
the rope around his waist, and the other end
around a tree. Then he jumps right into the river,
mad with fear. He thrashes around underwater
with his eyes closed for a while, then feels a rock
or something. Really needing some air, he comes to
the surface with his foot on the rock he'd felt.
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When he comes up, he sees the rope tied to the
tree on the other side of the river. There's no
one over there, so he figures he imagined the
footsteps. Just then, he hears a loud crash, and
sees a big chunk of the bridge fly off. A bit later,
the whole bridge crumbles. It happens really fast.
He's pretty far downstream from the bridge, but
he still feels the ground shake when it crashes.
Soon, stuff starts hitting the rope he strung up, so
he struggles over to the nearest river bank. He's
shaking, and bends over to throw up. When he's
done, he looks over and sees a bunch of people
stuck on the rope, making their way to the shore.
So these folks stagger up to the guy who had tied

up the rope. There are maybe a dozen or so,
dripping wet. "Holy shit, man, how did you know to
tie that rope up", one obviously winded fellow asks
the still-green rope-tying guy. The guy thinks
about it for a bit. Another bit. Soon, all the folks
who had gotten hung up on the rope were waiting
expectantly for an answer. The guy just shook his
head, and said simply," Look, I didn't do anything.
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I was poking around by the river, and heard a
noise. I got scared, found a rope, and jumped in
the river with it. When I came up, I tied the
other side to that tree there." Satisfied with
himself having given this explanation, the guy was
surprised to find the people were still looking at
him.
"Where did you find that rope", someone asked.
"What was the noise?" How did you get to this
side of the river?" This went on for a while, and
the guy got kind of sick of it. Finally, he
said,"Seriously, people, what do you want me to
say? The bridge is gone, you're pretty lucky to
have survived it, and we've got a rope going across
the river to start a new bridge with. Maybe you
should stop looking at what happened and start
looking at what you want to do." Though their
questions remained in their minds, they shut up and
started doing what he said, mostly because they
had nothing better to do. Before too long, there
was another bridge. At its completion, they carved
into the bridge the words,"This is the only bridge
to cross, since the last bridge collapsed due to
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improper maintenance."
The “bridge” in this little story symbolizes a

personal spiritual model, and its evolution over the
course of a death-and-rebirth process. In the
beginning, the model functions exceedingly well. It
serves to translate ideas between an individual and
the external world very effectively, as the people
in the story were able to cross the river so easily
for so long. At a certain point, though, the bridge
began to wear out. The characters in the story,
the ideas, then had to spend more and more time
attending to the mechanism by which they were
translated from one “bank” to the other; the
bridge itself. As time went on, so much energy had
to be dedicated to keeping the dilapidated
structure from crumbling that very few ideas were
allowed to pass without being unduly burdened.
The “toll takers”, who represent unrealistic ideas
held onto despite their ineffective methodologies,
tried hard to hold it all together. At a certain
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point, however, they couldn't keep up with the
increasing rate of the structure's degradation.
Eventually, the bridge collapsed, symbolizing the
inevitable inability of a spiritual model to remain
effective once it's started to deteriorate.
Even as this was happening, an idea, in the form
of “the guy”, accidentally began a new bridge with
the “rope”. The guy wasn't expecting to be the
seed of a new bridge, and the trauma of that
realization forced him to purge (throw up), even as
all the ideas (the survivors) that needed to come
together for a new bridge to be constructed got
hung up on the rope. The guy, or seed of a new
spiritual model, couldn't tell the others what
happened, or how they fit into the process. He
knew only the possibility, and necessity, of building
another bridge. Finally, all the people (ideas) that
survived the disaster came together to form a new
effective spiritual model. Inevitably, this new
bridge would eventually suffer the same fate as
the first, but not until after the people forgot the
importance of their engraved record's allusion to
“improper maintenance.”
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Evolution 2: Redefining the Change
Many scholars have suggested quasi-linear

explanations as to how human spirituality has
evolved. This usually takes the form of steps: 1.
Nature worship, 2. Tribal polytheism, 3. State
polytheism, 4. Monotheism...Never mind that each
of these steps could be correlated to a change in
the power structure of society, fueled by
technological advance and always towards an
increased control of resource wealth by relatively
fewer individuals. If evolution is always towards
diversity, why has religious diversity decreased at
an increasing rate over time? Could it be that the
way nature does things is wrong, and our way is
not? I doubt it very much. I suspect the
consolidation of spiritual models has more to do
with the trend towards global homogenization of
psychocultural models than anything else.
Stagnation of spiritual evolution is a natural
response to the counter-evolutionary progress of
our psychocultural systems. It seems plausible
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that the rate of spiritual evolution has a direct
inverse correlation to the increase in
psychocultural standardization. In other words,
our spirits seem to stagnate when we try to force
same-ness on the expression of their natures.
The evolution of a given spiritual model is directly
linked to the evolution of its cultural context. In
cases of counter-evolutionary tendencies within a
given cultural context, the spiritual model tied to
that context will generally exhibit those same
counter-evolutionary tendencies. In simpler terms,
the spiritual model employed by a person reflects
the world as that person understands it, and vice
versa. The quaint axiom,"The more things change,
the more they stay the same," applies quite nicely
to the psychocultural end of things. Yet this is not
so when it's applied to the biological environment.
Now, by this logic, human spiritual evolution has
been retarded, while the models we use have
evolved only as a necessary adaptation to the
evolution of our psychocultural environment. In
other words, our spiritual selves haven't been
allowed to evolve, though the models we use to
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interpret those selves have, and poorly.
As a spiritual model must work with both the
psychocultural and bioenvironmental climates to be
effective, and these climates are increasingly at
odds with each other in contemporary society, the
model employed by an individual is increasingly
responsible for "bridging the gap" between the
two. A variety of approaches appear to have the
potential to allow for this. The two most obvious
being increased differentiation and increased
dynamic synthesis. Increased differentiation has
to do with more clearly defining the difference
between actual and symbolic concepts in the model,
thus allowing an individual's role in the world
increasingly to be laid out free of unnecessary
self-contradiction. Increased dynamic synthesis
uses almost the opposite approach to achieve a
similar end. Here, the model is formulated to
account for both the psychocultural and the
bioenvironmental, utilizing comprehensive
definitions which evolve with these two climates to
create a single, seamless role definition. While
both approaches have their advantages, increased
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dynamic synthesis is more appealing to me, as it
alters, rather than expands to accommodate
changing environmental factors. There is a third
approach here, however, which I've found serves
these purposes in a more concrete fashion. This
approach has the capacity to bridge the gap
between psychocultural and biological environments
in a more experiential, everyday manner. This
approach, which I'll detail in a later chapter, is the
generation and adoption of stories and narrative
which describe, in part, the lived interface
between these two environments.
Individuals' evolution, within their own lifetimes,
collectively give rise to the evolution of the
species' psychocultural environment. That our
psychocultural environment has come into conflict
with our respective bioenvironments speaks
volumes about our deficient spiritual models. That
we need more effective spiritual models, whether
by re-contextualizing old ones or creating new
ones, is apparent. Thus far, I've presented a
theoretical basis on which we can begin building
such models, yet the real task at hand is the
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everyday experiential development and living of
these models. In the following chapters, I
describe a process by which this can be
accomplished, as well as offer examples of how
such a process can be adapted to the specific
context of an individual's everyday life.
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Spiritual Honesty
The importance of thinking honestly in this

process cannot be overstressed. Without honest
and rational thought applied here, the process
immediately breaks down. This might seem
obvious, but you'd be surprised how easy self-
deception is, especially when looking at any
spiritual subject. Pretty much everyone wants to
be right, and most everyone thinks they're
justified in their thoughts and actions. The social
dynamic introduces incredibly unfounded, and
often subconscious incentives for deceiving both
self and others. Most of us simply have no idea
that we're kidding ourselves and others pretty
much all the time. This is just part of our
psychocultural condition, and in no way a reflection
on "character".
Examples of this can be found in abundance,
especially when looking at the rift between
asserted spiritual belief and actual physical action
in contemporary society. Stating a belief that
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killing is wrong, and then killing an "enemy", is an
obvious example. A more subtle example might be
stating a belief in the sacredness of all living
things, and then acting economically in a fashion
that destroys life indirectly, yet just as surely. I
offer these examples not to pass judgment. I
believe everyone tries to do what they believe to
be right. I only hope to point out the
discrepancies bound to arise when honest thinking
about spiritual models takes a back seat to
convenience. The only thing less convenient than
honest thinking about spiritual matters in everyday
life is dealing with the personal consequences of
dishonest spiritual thought.
By and large, the current psychocultural
environment is far more inclined towards
adamantly resisting thoroughly thought out models,
than towards acknowledgment and incorporation of
said models. Bulleted line items take precedence
over thoughtful explanation of the same material.
Symbol is granted primacy over substance. In
looking at creating or adopting effective symbol-
sets, the underlying logic train must be apparent
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for its symbols to effectively function in their
proper context. A vague explanation can be
honest, yet sacrificing specificity opens the door
to misunderstanding. The vague explanation is
useful only to the extent that it is able to be
explored, and ceases to be relevant the moment an
individual moves into uncharted territory. As the
individual experiential exploration of personal
spirituality is generally confined to "uncharted
territory", this exploration must be thoroughly and
honestly contemplated, if it's to be specific
enough to allow for its honest communication.
Because the creation of an effective spiritual
model is partially contingent on the process
involving more than one person, it makes sense to
agree on a clear differentiation process, both for
the individual and the group, to illustrate
distinction between the subjective and the
objective. This is also part of thinking honestly, as
so often the subjective and the objective become
confused or tangled within a spiritual model. For
example, I've heard preachers speak in the first
person when referring to prayer: "And I said,
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"God...And God said to me..." Now, is the preacher
talking about the subjective experience of being
touched by the divine, as opposed to the objective
reality of a physical conversation? Most likely.
Still, there is the chance that a.) The preacher
thinks an objective conversation took place, or b.)
Someone who shares the preacher's spiritual
model might think as much. I have grave misgivings
about about any spiritual model that lacks a clear
process for differentiation between subjective
and objective. This is not to devalue the mystical
aspects of any model, but rather to allow these
aspects to evolve appropriately by clearly
understanding their proper internal, social, and
environmental context.
The bulk of the benefits to honest thinking, with

regard to a spiritual model, are in the model's
mystical aspects. The indefinable, which is
present throughout everyday living, is translated
here. Because we possess imagination, we have an
enormous capacity for imaginative thinking. This
can either be utilized creatively, or burden us
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down with false perceptions and assumptions.
Thinking that it's possible to define something
indefinable leads to thinking it's possible to
support a model on indefinable definitions. Being
honest with yourself requires knowing what you
really believe, as well as knowing that those beliefs
have foundation.
Every effective spiritual model I've examined has
a mystical component built into it. Even rational
atheism (which, in many cases, is deserving of
"effective spiritual model" status in my opinion)
has its "superstring theory" and other such
esoteric concepts. As long as unexplained
elements exist in our conscious understanding of
the universe, there will exist unexplained elements
in the models we employ to define our role in that
universe.
A given model's recognition of this concept can
manifest in a variety of ways, though that
recognition must be present for a spiritual model
to be effective. Alcoholics Anonymous uses the
phrase "cunning and baffling" to describe
addiction. Eastern traditions talk about "not
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doing", as the mystical counterpart to doing. It
takes a fair amount of courage to look at a
subjective experience and understand it to be
mostly symbolic, because even as we're taught to
see symbol as object, we're taught the symbol
isn't "real".
The surest way to know yourself is to be honest
with yourself. The surest way to know others is to
listen to their honest communications; to hear
what they say, and don't say. An effective
spiritual model both empowers its users to be
honest, and requires honesty of them. An
interdependent relationship exists between an
individual's honesty, and the effectiveness of
that individual's spiritual model. By simply stating
something you believe, nothing is accomplished. By
living in accordance with one's statements, a great
deal can be accomplished. By embodying honest
and well-grounded beliefs, anything is possible.
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Section Two:
Cooperative Spirituality
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Power, Efficiency, and the Group
It's pretty trendy to talk about power. New-

agey books about "personal power" are a dime a
dozen. "Taking the power back" is a central
precept of many activist groups. With all the talk
about power, it's a remarkably misunderstood
subject in our society. Money, for example, is a
symbolic representation of time, not power. It's
like a battery storing energy for later use, while
the battery's charge itself is the actual power.
Spending money is like hooking up the battery to
an electrical circuit that performs work. The thing
is, in any system (electrical or otherwise), every
single step added between the generation of power
and the work done with that power decreases the
overall efficiency of the system. As a general rule,
when things get too complex, they get really
wasteful.
Human social systems seem to defy the law of
entropy to some extent, due to the synergy
created when we work in concert. What synergy
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means here is that many people working together
can accomplish more than the sum total of those
same people's work, were they each working
separately. This synergistic potential is
undermined to the extent we centralize and
expand our human systems, and disappears
altogether when cooperation means only submission
to the larger group. Every step between growing
and eating our food is a loss of efficiency; a bit of
wasted energy. Every extra meter between a
power-plant and a home computer is a loss of
efficiency, and still more wasted energy. These
losses all add up, and eventually we're left putting
far more energy into the system than we can
possibly get out of it.
Real power is different than symbolic power.
Symbolic power is fueled solely by the beliefs of
those involved. It can be negated simply by
choosing not to participate in its workings. Most
religious and political power is symbolic, and as
such can only affect us if we allow it to...though
being effectively controlled by symbolic power is a
deeply ingrained part of our psychocultural
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programming.
Real power is the ability to direct energy and
effect change. It's all about energy. After all, the
stuff comprises everything. Everyone is made up
of energy, and has energy at their disposal.
Where and how we use our energy might well be
the most important thing in life, yet it usually goes
mostly unexamined (or worse, dishonestly
examined). Walking, for example, is the most
efficient form of transportation from an energetic
standpoint. Our bodies convert the energy food
contains into motion far better than any of the
machines we use. Better, even, than bicycles,
because of all the energy required to build and
maintain them. Still bicycles are far more energy
efficient than cars, and cars more efficient than
airplanes, and airplanes more efficient than
rockets. The bigger it gets, the more it wastes.
Of all the energy you possess, how much of it is
locked away in, or dedicated to, material
possessions? Too much, I'll wager, to allow your
full energetic potential to be realized. Our
psychocultural environment depends on this.
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Materialism, or rather the perpetual desire to
acquire and control material possessions (for if it
were true materialism, we'd really be enjoying
having all this stuff), keeps people impotent and
enslaved. Ours is a population of perpetual
debtors and modern variations on feudal
aristocracy.
Every one of us has real power. We just need to
realize it and learn how to wield it. We all direct
energy with consciousness, as a matter of course.
More often than not, for a person to find their
own power, they must first lose everything. In the
absence of everything we thought we had, we find
what we really have. It looks like this process is
hard-wired into us, and probably contributes to
the universal death-rebirth theme prevalent in so
many spiritual traditions. What we lack is a
culturally-acceptable avenue for expression of the
process, as traditional models no longer have the
cultural context they require for their potential
effectiveness to be realized. The thing about
cultural limitations, however, is that they can be
removed within a select group by the group itself.
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In essence, a group can define the reality of the
space it occupies.
Developing power, like so many other things, can
be aided immensely by the concerted efforts of a
group. We're inherently social creatures with
synergistic potential, so this makes sense. If we
are part of a small group of people committed to
one another, developing individual (and by
extension, group synergistic) power can be
accomplished in ways which are at once methodical
and creatively dynamic. By identifying the real
needs of the group, this developmental process can
begin in earnest.
With this in mind, we can assume everyone needs
food, clothing and shelter. The reality is that, in
our culture, these things cost money. Money can
be, and usually is, the single biggest impediment to
any group seeking freedom from psychocultural
bondage. There's either not enough to go around,
or so much that it becomes overwhelming to keep
track of it all. Either way, it takes up a great deal
of our energy.
Economics (always in conjunction with
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propaganda) provides the most effective means of
control our evil overlords could dream up. So much
of our energy is dedicated to the mere
perpetuation of our economic position, it's a
wonder any of us have even a dream of freeing
ourselves from it. Still, we are here, and thus have
an opportunity, perhaps even an obligation, to make
the attempt.
Beyond these base physical needs, we require
other things. Healthy social relationships, varietal
opportunities for learning and recreation, and
constructive avenues of creative expression all
must be addressed effectively for a group to be
healthy. Again, we are programmed to view these
things as commodities, so there are both internal
and external barriers in place preventing these
needs from being met. The more conscious we are
of these barriers, the less sway they hold on our
subconscious minds. Learning to live, work, and
communicate together effectively is the
foundation on which we can effectively begin the
work of learning to live in balance.
Individuals make up families, families make up
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communities, etc. "Family" can hardly be viewed in
a traditional sense throughout most of American
society. With the majority of Americans now
single and childless, the concept of "family" can be
as easily applied to a group of unrelated house-
mates living cooperatively as it can a partnered
couple and their children. "Community", has
recently begun to undergo a similar fundamental
shift in meaning. As culture, especially its
economic aspect, homogenizes, most local areas
have lost nearly all of their defining
characteristics. This, coupled with the rise of the
"information age", has caused the definition of
community to shift away from one of geographic
proximity towards a definition characterized by
little more than common interests, generally either
economic or ideological in nature. This grouping by
apparent similarity, while surely having a place,
undermines a core precept of
evolution...EVOLUTION IS ALWAYS TOWARDS
DIVERSITY. A local and diverse community has a
far better chance of surviving and thriving in the
natural world than a homogenized, specialized, and
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geographically dispersed one does.
As an individual serves the family, the family
serves the individual. As the family serves the
community, the community serves the family.
Hieratic reciprocity isn't some pinko commie
concept, but the way that nature works. We've
just mucked it up so bad that it's become difficult
to see the truth of the matter. Many of us
actually believe there needs to be some elite group
running the show. We actually believe that we are
so inherently evil that we can't be trusted with our
own lives. Our logic here is flawed at best. I
mean, of course we're fallible as humans. If
humans are inherently fallible, we're all equally
fallible. It seems profoundly foolish that we'd
trust any aspect of our lives (let alone many
aspects) to fallible people we don't know
personally. People who, chances are, have different
interests and motivations than we ourselves have.
Now, hierarchy is undeniably present among many
species of animals. Even in these species, the
hierarchy is restricted to small, local groupings of
animals, and is a natural extension of physiological
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composition. Never has some super alpha wolf
risen up and claimed dominance over all the wolves
on an entire continent, let alone crossed oceans to
enforce its will on wolves across the globe. Until a
relatively very recent period, human society was
primarily egalitarian in nature. We've been
without hierarchy far longer than we've been with
it, and the world is worse for our recent shift in
how we organize ourselves. But I digress; this
work is about the personal and practical side of
change.
Practically speaking, the areas in which we can
have the highest beneficial impact are on the
individual and small-group level. In our
individualistic culture, much has been written
about individual de-and-reprogramming. Without a
proper social context, however, this type of work
rarely bears sustainable fruit. I see the greatest
impediments to this work as being both internal
and external. These must be addressed
simultaneously for any approach to be effective as
well as comprehensive. Our internal and external
realities reinforce each other in something of a
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positive-feedback loop. Traditionally, effective
spiritual models address this issue in a form born
of their function.
Buddhism, for example, offers a very concise,
three-fold framework that clearly illustrates this
concept. Buddhists refer to "taking refuge" in the
Bhudda, Dharma, and Sangha; That is 1.) An
internal, personal relationship with the divine
infinite, 2.) The external, physical work of living
according to divine principals, in the context of 3.)
A community of believers. It's hard to argue with
such a simple-yet-proven organizational structure.
At once solid and dynamic, the structure intuitively
feels appropriate for the purposes of my own
spiritual model, though other traditionally
effective spiritual models offer similarly useful
frameworks.
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E.F.O.T.
Before I go any further, I want to make special

note of a reoccurring theme that's come to light
throughout much of my de-and-reprogramming
work. It's something that manifests both in
individual and group level work, and will likely be
encountered in some form by everyone engaged in
this type of work. It has to do with expression of
the transition people go through when rigid,
external, behavioral controls are replaced with
more dynamic, internal, behavioral control
structures. This transition period is essential for
the work to go on, yet is almost universally
misunderstood. The severity of this is a product
of our unnatural psychocultural environment, and
has been used time and time again against
individuals and groups by the "powers that be" as a
dismissal of the positive potential of the work. I
call it EFOT, or Essential F_ck-Off Time.
I first noticed EFOT in my work with a

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community-based, K-12 charter school. The
educational model we were using depended on
individual education plans, developed by the
student in partnership with both the parent(s) and
teachers. What we found is that, given a choice
for the first time in their lives on how to spend
their time, most students started off doing all the
things they were never allowed to do before in
school. Gradually, their acting out gave way to
complacency, as still no one told them what they
had to do. Complacency led to boredom, and
boredom to the realization that they really were in
control of their time, and by extension, their own
educational progress. Once this realization was
actually internalized, the student was able to
formulate and execute an individual education plan
far exceeding the expectations that any more
traditional school environment had ever placed on
them. Because the process was so intimately
theirs, the students could really learn to "own"
their education; the responsibility for it came long
after the "right" had been granted.
EFOT, regardless of whether in a purely
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educational model or a more comprehensive whole-
life model, seems to last about a year. As its
initial stages involve "acting out" and "breaking
rules", EFOT is often combated or seen as a threat
to the group in which it occurs (much to the
detriment of the group). It's a natural part of
regaining balance in a world-out-of-balance. As
with so many things, the trick is to flow with it.
EFOT's often destructive initial stages eventually
give rise to an overwhelmingly powerful sense of
duty and responsibility, something virtually
impossible without EFOT. It can thus be viewed as
a concrete and culturally relevant variation on the
death-and-rebirth ritual, seemingly necessary for
evolution of both the individual and the group.
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Letting Go
Think about breath for a moment; how your

breath goes in and out all of the time. Think about
tides and seasons; natural reproduction. What do
you see if not a perpetual in-out-in-out process?
Now, hold your breath. How long can you go on like
that? Not too long, I suspect. See, we know we
need to breathe out as surely as we need to
breathe in; know this without ever having to read
about it, because every one of us can feel it.
Likewise, our bodies perish from not pooping, just
as surely as from not eating. Bioenvironmentally
speaking, our bodies are engaged in perpetual
reciprocity with plants. Plants breathe in what we
breath out. Plants are our food (or the food of our
food), and our waste is food for plants and soil.
This arrangement benefits both plants and animals,
and will continue doing so unless we do something
to muck it up (unfortunately, a very real
possibility).
No such arrangement exists in our self-created
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psychocultural environment. In the psychocultural
realm, we are perpetually constipated and holding
our breath. We hoard anything and everything,
only to die and lose it all. Here, we've chosen to
engage the process of life itself in combat. What
can we hope to gain from such an obvious waste of
energy? Before we can learn to live in balance, we
must learn to let go of the physical and
psychological barriers to balance. These take
many forms, and could be a book in and of
themselves. I'll try and address a few of the more
pressing of these barriers here.
One primary form these barriers take is that of
psychocultural lies masquerading as, and believed
to be, truth. These lies tend to reinforce one
another, yet break down upon honest examination.
Here are a few I've identified. If you want to
hold on to them, go ahead. They'll do you exactly
zero good in the face of the future they're
contributing to.
~Things have always been this way; there have
always been rulers and the ruled. (Things were
different for far longer than they've been this
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way)
~Technology will save us from the problems
created by the misuse of technology. (Come on
now, what are we thinking?)
~God will save us from ourselves. (Doesn't God
mostly work through, and not separately from,
believers?)
~You can't live without money, a job, etc. (Sure you
can. People did just fine without these things for
a mind-bendingly long time)
~Artificial consequences, like jail, are the natural
result of wrongdoing. (Natural consequences teach
lessons, artificial consequences merely keep a
population fearful and enslaved)
~Death (and/or pain) is bad. (This is a big one. We
actually believe something everyone inevitably
undergoes is an enemy to combat, even as we kill
for fun and profit)
The list could go on and on, but I fear I might be

entering rant territory, so I hope you see where
I'm going with this. The point is, we need to let go
of the lies we live by if we're to have any hope of
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ever finding genuine truth. These psychocultural
barriers are coupled with physical barriers, which
present a similar problem so long as we refuse to
let them go. These physical barriers, though born
in the psychocultural realm, can't be simply
banished with the mind through application of
logic. Instead, a somewhat different strategy is
required to effectively shed these. The focus
here is on concrete action rather than thought.
Thought alone can't move the physical barriers
even an inch.
These barriers begin in our physical bodies.
Living out of balance plays hell on our bodies,
manifesting as pain, accident-proneness, mood
disorders, and illness of the mind and body. A
truly healthy diet is both essential for our
wellbeing, and increasingly difficult for us to
procure. Fresh whole foods and wild meat are
great, yet tend to be prohibitively expensive.
Pollution, infection, and over-harvesting are
severely undermining our ability to secure and
maintain a healthy diet. There's not too much we
can do about this, save try our best. Learning
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about wild edibles, forming relationships with local
farms, and growing community gardens is about the
best I've managed so far.
Along with diet, how we use and move our bodies
is exceedingly important. This begins with breath,
and continues into every aspect of our physical
lives. We're simply not built to walk on uniform
surfaces all the time, stare at a screen six hours a
day, or ignore seasonal changes. Our bodies are
built to sing, dance, and run. These and other
things are deeply ingrained, natural healing tools at
our disposal. Many other, far more informed
authors have tackled this subject, though, so I
won't dwell too long here. Essentially, these
internal bioenvironments we call bodies are
naturally in a state of health and balance; the most
important thing we can do is get out of the way and
let them return to health.
Take depression, for example. Depression is a
hard-wired human response to not having our needs
met. It's a natural bargaining tool, intended to
withhold energy from the group, until the group
meets the needs of the depressed individual. If
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its cause were purely physiological, it would
respond better to medications. If there is a
chemical imbalance involved here, it is a symptom
of depression, and not the cause. Now, some
scientists are starting to figure this out,
particularly in the emerging field of evolutionary
psychology. Recent studies have shown that
therapy based on lifestyle change is many times
more effective than drug therapy. In other words,
it makes more sense to live differently than it
does to expect a pill to solve the problems
associated with living out of balance.
Another example is addiction. Our medical
system defines addiction as an incurable illness.
We are a society of addicts (though some
addictions are more socially acceptable to us than
others), and spiritual tools are a necessity in
dealing with addiction issues, as illustrated by the
twelve-step-program-model requirement of
submitting the personal will to a higher power as a
prerequisite to managing the consequences of
addictive behavior. I believe the jargon is “Let go,
and let God.”
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Moving outward from our bodies to the physical
environments we encounter daily, the barriers to
balance multiply. It's far too overwhelming to try
and shed these (or even identify them) all at once.
A more effective strategy is to identify,
experience, and shed these barriers as they come
up. It's a slow process; more like building a house
than tearing one down. Living space is a natural
starting place for me here, so I'll present
thoughts on that first.
How does your living space feel? Is it
comfortable, stuffy, artificial-seeming? Is its
level of cleanliness well suited to you and those you
share the space with? How many of the things in
your home were made by hands, and how many with
machines? Do you have plants? Pets? Are they
healthy or sickly? Are they useful or mere
decoration? Do you have a lawn? A garden? Is it
really a good idea to pay to grow grass, when you
could save money by planting food? Would your
landlord let you do that? The point here isn't to
tell you what's right for you. Instead, it's to
encourage becoming conscious of the energy you
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surround yourself with. Sometimes, even the most
familiar things are destructive to us. Sometimes,
the most novel and scary things are helpful. By
paying attention and taking responsibility for how
you shape your space, appropriate action (or
inaction) becomes apparent pretty quick.
Moving on to the work environment, things get
stickier. Most of us have little or no control over
any aspect of our job. We are, however, able to
work in a group setting to create alternatives to
traditional employment models. This has been a
primary strategy of mine, at any rate. There are
innumerable opportunities for economic innovation.
The trick seems to be in allowing every aspect of
life, even our employment, to become a natural
extension of honest intentions. In examining the
work environment, the most important question is,
“Does this make sense for me now? Why?” I've
found that even more “traditional” or corporate
models can be responsive to thoughtful and well-
reasoned arguments for or against a given aspect
of the work environment.
An often quoted biblical passage goes "If your
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right hand offends you, cut it off..." Now, I
believe the wisdom here is symbolic, and entirely
relevant at a closing to this chapter. If something
you believe is an essential part of you has, upon
examination, been found detrimental to your whole
being, it's far better to deal with getting rid of it
than it is to keep it. With or without the "hand",
you'll still be yourself. Without it, though, you're
no longer bound to a source of harm.
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The Spirit Worker's Role
"Civilization" has degraded one of our most

important senses, that which allows learning
directly from spirits. Everything has a spirit;
every germ and plant and idea. Considering the
world in terms of spirits is a natural human
inclination, yet our programming has taught us to
see such thinking as childish. We're taught, and
largely believe, that we are smarter, more
sophisticated, and all around better than all those
who came before us. The truth of the matter is
far removed from this psychocultural mindset.
The truth of the matter is, in fact, diametrically
opposed to our way of thinking.
This degradation of our spiritual perception has
been a gradual process, but is now quite complete.
So complete, in fact, that most people would deny
even the existence of spirits, let alone the
possibility of learning from them. In placing our
faith in a "science" which has no use for anything it
can't define, we've lost something more important
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than we realize, something that directly shaped
much of our history. It's power which has been
stolen from humanity; power that is as much our
right as it is our heritage. This power can,
however, be regained.
There are people who, for whatever reason, are
predisposed to perceiving and interacting with the
spirit world. This is hardly surprising, given our
history, yet most traditional societal roles for
these people have been eliminated in our modern
psychocultural environment. Scientific
specialization has usurped and undermined the role
of the medicine person, without offering us
suitable replacement for many of the role's
essential functions. The results of this are
evident, manifesting in a variety of troubling
situations.
Many use the Siberian-derived term "shaman" to
describe the role of the spirit worker, but other
words might be more effective in trying to cover
this topic. This is, after all, an anthropological
term, and the historical shamanic figure generally
bears little resemblance to its modern
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counterpart. In the context of contemporary
society, then, maybe some new descriptive term
might make more sense. The label itself isn't too
important, so long as it describes without
misleading. Personally, I prefer “spirit worker” or
“medicine person”, as these terms aren't
necessarily bound to any particular anthropological
context.
This chapter is about the importance of
reintegrating the spirit worker's role into daily
life. This, I believe, is important for a number of
reasons, relating first and foremost to health.
The prohibitively expensive American healthcare
system, whose efficacy has been questionable in
my own experience, can be made substantially less
relevant through such a reintegration. Also, the
growing societal burden of supporting many people
considered "mentally ill" can be transformed into a
blessing, or at least mitigated more effectively.
Spirit workers function almost exclusively in the
context of a community. Without this context,
there's no societal role for such a person to play.
The largest, and perhaps only, barrier to
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reintegration of the spirit worker's role is the
utter lack of traditionally-defined community in
our societal context. Reintegrating these roles,
then, goes hand in hand with community-building,
as both are sorely needed and tend to reinforce
one another.
Some measure of physical proximity must be
restored to the modern definition of community
for purely practical purposes here. Without
reasonably close physical proximity, communication
suffers a somewhat dramatic reduction in
effectiveness, as essential linguistic nuance is lost
to the ethers. Without having been part of a
functional sustainable community from a young age,
it's difficult for us to envision it's workings. Our
best chance seems to lie in the reinvention and co-
creation of such communities, and a close physical
proximity naturally facilitates this work. Needs
such as conflict resolution, healing, and ethical
economic planning are important here, and the
modern spirit worker is well equipped to meet
them. That's not to say they are the exclusive
domain of the spirit worker by any means, but
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rather that the spirit worker provides an often
necessary vision and focus for these needs to be
met.
Though serving these functions can be a full time
job, the spirit worker is usually obligated to
participate in economic activities the same as any
other community member. This is especially true
in smaller groups or communities. The physical
needs of a community must be addressed by all of
its members to prevent the divisive perception of
preferential treatment. Every community does
things differently, because the individuals
comprising each community are varied. Each
community provides its own unique context that
provides a framework for effective spiritual work
to take place, even in the absence of long-standing
historical tradition.
Medicine people aren't made, they're born.

Spiritual work is not a choice for them. When the
spirit descends on them, it's either heed the call
or suffer even to the point of death. They must
learn to control it or lose their self to true
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insanity. Popular culture consistently
misunderstands this process, and insists on labeling
the vast majority of such people mentally ill.
Ill-informed New Agers peddle a commodified
and watered-down version of spirit work, pulling
indigenous traditions and rituals out of their
proper context in hopes of gaining spiritual
knowledge. Spiritual knowledge doesn't work like
this, though. No book or lecture or weekend
seminar in the mountains can make a medicine
person. Real medicine people learn directly from
the spirit. Everyone has within them the potential
to perceive and interact with the spiritual realm.
We do it all the time, and simply fail to notice that
this is what we're doing. Medicine people hold no
exclusivity here, they just don't have any choice in
the matter.
There are some fairly universal characteristics of
spirit workers that must be present for me to call
a "shaman" authentic. It may be hard for some
people to accept the definitions given here. An
incredible amount of inaccurate information on the
subject, ranging from petty misunderstanding to
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downright chicanery, has become lodged in our
public psyche. Working directly and effectively
with the spiritual world requires both aptitude and
lifetime commitment. Think of it as a specialized
art form. Many can play at it, but only a few will
be endlessly driven by something they don't
understand to pursue its mastery.
A medicine person will often have a coming of age
punctuated by paranormal experiences. Eventually,
they will fall victim to what's become known as the
"shamanic sickness". The onset of this illness
generally has no discernible medical cause, does
not respond to treatment, and can be fatal. Often,
it is misdiagnosed as mental illness. When the
sickness comes, its symptoms can take many forms.
This person then is engaged in the process of
surviving the onslaught of the spirit, and must
undertake a certain type of journey. If they
recover, and many do not, then they are forever
transformed into a spirit worker. The experience
is painful, terrifying, and utterly misunderstood by
our culture. Above all, though, it is necessary,
because the first person healed by a spirit worker
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is always the spirit worker.
Some people avoid the spirit world, others happen
upon it accidentally, often through a traumatic
experience, and still others may only journey there
on occasion. The medicine person lives there as
much as they do in physical reality. Medicine
people, as opposed to crazy people, control their
awareness of participation in non-ordinary reality.
For medicine people, it's never about drugs or
animal parts. It's all about spirits.
People of vision, who are able to think on many

levels simultaneously, provide an excellent
resource in troubled and rapidly-changing times.
This is a resource I don't think we can afford to
deprive ourselves of any longer. The growing
home-church phenomenon, the resurgence of
earth-based religions, and the popular embrace of
“alien” myth-sets, all speak to an unmet need within
our collective spiritual body. In an everyday sense
and community setting, spirit workers specialize in
seeing that such needs are met.
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Side Note: The Early Christian Church
When Christianity first came into being, this “big

three” religion was little more than a localized cult.
The Early Christian Church provides a community
model with greater potential to be effective in our
modern psychocultural context than just about any
other historical model I've come across. Roman
occupied Judea was the context that gave rise to
The Early Christian Church, and that context
parallels modern America in a variety of ways. For
example, those times were referred to as "the end
of days" amongst people of the period, while more
than half of all Americans, according to recent
polls, now believe we're living in "apocalyptic"
times. (As an interesting side note, the Greek root
of the word apocalypse means “revelation” or
“unveiling”. It has nothing to do with the end of
the world, and everything to do with the end of a
paradigm, or model.)
The Early Christian Church provided its members
with physical, social, and spiritual necessities. It
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also offered a positive, proactive, and nonviolent
means of rebellion against corrupt religious and
political leadership. Early Christians didn't fear
the end of their world. Its prospect, instead, was
a source of joy and inspiration. They welcomed the
thought with open arms as divine justice for all
those unable to defy the dictates of the
totalitarian regimes under which they found
themselves.
The greatest impediment to studying this model
is a decided lack of accurate information on the
subject. We know money and goods were held in
common. Sharing was one of the things early
Christians were best at. We know that collections
were taken up and delivered, at great personal
risk, to those in need. We know free healing of
the sick was a cornerstone of the Early Christian
Church, as was a marked anti-materialistic
sentiment. We also know, however, that the
Church was, immediately following the death of
Jesus, corrupted and co-opted.
The structure of most modern Christian churches
is founded not on the teachings of Jesus, but on
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those of Paul. Though inspired, Paul's teachings
are different from those of Jesus, and came from
a man who persecuted Christians mercilessly for a
living. Jesus taught absolute freedom in the Holy
Spirit, while Paul advocated slavery; even going so
far as to send a runaway slave who sought him out
home to grovel and beg his master's forgiveness.
Jesus taught absolute obedience to an infinite,
living God. Paul taught absolute obedience to
earthly and temporal rulers, reasoning falsely that
human overlords were somehow divinely ordained
by virtue of having attained worldly power.
Eventually, after persecuting Christians for a
while, the Romans themselves went ahead and
nationalized the religion under Constantine.
Interestingly enough, the Romans did on a vast
scale what Paul had done on a much more personal
level years prior. Central to the new corrupted and
co-opted Christianity was the Roman spirit of
imperialistic expansionism. This, coupled with
historical revisionism, has rendered nearly all
modern Christian traditions largely incompatible
with the actual teachings of Jesus. Were he alive
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today, I suspect the powers that be would label
him a dissident terrorist and treat him accordingly.
Remember, Jesus was of middle eastern descent,
and always seemed to be on the run from the law.
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Section Three:
Redefining Everyday Change
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Dissent
Fire is a natural part of many forest's ecology.

One of the great myths of the logging industry is
that fire destroys a forest; this is a useful myth
for that industry to perpetuate, as it allows
companies to log many otherwise inaccessible
public lands at a fraction of their usual cost. Once
an inferno has had its way with a forest, logging
companies can then call their activities “salvage”,
and do away with many of the pesky regulations
they usually have to contend with. Often, these
companies are indirectly subsidized by tax dollars,
as the government will spend tax money to build
access roads which enable the “salvage” logs to be
hauled away. When learning about this, I
discovered an interesting phenomenon with direct
parallels to our present psychocultural
environment.
If, in a forest, there's a fire every year, the
fires tend to be small. Less accumulated debris
limits the fire's temperature, as well as its ability
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to spread. Old sturdy trees survive, and benefit
because they have less competition for their
essential nutrients. If that same forest is
prevented from burning, through human
intervention or otherwise, it will eventually catch
fire anyhow. When it does, the fire will do far
more damage, spreading further and burning
hotter due to the increased accumulation of
flammable debris.
Now, looking at our history, periodic shake-ups of
our psychocultural environment have occurred with
a fair degree of regularity. Public dissent (little
fires), and revolutions (big fires) keep a society
healthy. Thomas Jefferson advocated revolution
every twenty years, for exactly this reason. If
dissent is squelched before its energy is dissipated
(as it is now); if revolution is undermined before it
is even underway (as it's been here for quite some
time now), then we are left with a situation ripe
for maximum destructiveness when the inevitable
"fire" starts. Our culture appears increasingly
polarized along economic and ideological lines.
Having effectively lost the means to traditional
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expressions of our right to free speech, free
press, and free assembly, our available outlets of
public dissent seem to have largely disappeared.
“There's the internet, though,” many argue. I
would respond that the internet is an abstract
world. These rights must be exercised in the
physical world for them to function as intended, in
order to relieve mounting psychocultural
pressures.
Being largely without a public voice in our lives
means that we need to begin engaging each other
as individuals to express dissent. Implicit in this is
the need to communicate with those who hold
viewpoints that are different than our own. There
really are no "faceless masses" for us to address,
only individuals to engage. Our political and
corporate leaders have thoroughly proven that
they won't listen to us. We're just not that
important to them. The “news” they feed us
ranges from biased to utterly fictional, and can
only be seen accurately as the imposition of a
minority viewpoint on our collective perception of
events.
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When a person refuses to engage us in honest
communication despite our best efforts, we can no
longer regard them as relevant to our lives. They
have effectively alienated us. If that person then
tries, either subtly or overtly, to control any
aspect of our lives, they have effectively made
themselves into an impersonal threat, somewhat
like a rabid dog or venomous snake. We'll do well
to avoid them as best we can, but should not
hesitate to defend ourselves for even a moment if
the threat to us becomes direct and imminent.
Our corporate overlords and the hordes at their
command are all people who have the potential to
pose such threats.
The most effective dissent is action, and the

most effective action is in the personal realm of
everyday living. I think people are beginning to
figure this out on a pretty large scale, and need
only to develop or adopt appropriate alternative
organizational models to channel dissent into
effective and beneficial action. Some people have
been working with these alternative models for
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quite some time now. One model in particular has
proven itself effective time and time again. This
model is so effective that it's been branded a tool
of terrorism, and dismissed without due
consideration. Though there are people who
employ its effectiveness for terrible and
destructive ends, its potential for positive
application is undeniable.
I'm referring to “cell structure”. Cell structure
not only works, but develops naturally in human
social systems. A small group, say four to six
people, can work towards very directed and
comprehensive goals in an incredibly efficient
manner. If these same goals are shared by many
such groups, a very concerted effort can be
effected with little or no direct coordination
between the groups. This frightens the powers
that be to no end, for it undermines the myth that
centralized control is the only effective human
organizational model. For all intents and purposes,
this model appears to be a natural human response
to unnatural psychocultural stimuli; the immune
system of our collective psychocultural body
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kicking in to combat a systemic illness.
We can pretty much take for granted that an
unsustainable system will eventually collapse, and
our current system is definitely unsustainable. Cell
structure is useful to us here as well, as it does
away with the need for vast communication
networks necessary for centralized governance as
a matter of course. Problems such as chain-of-
command disruptions, breakdown of centralized
leadership, and critical failures in appropriate
deployment of personnel and supplies are all easily
averted by operating in an effective autonomous
cell.
Banding together in small groups has always been
one of our primary survival mechanisms in the face
of adverse conditions. That such conditions are
not always evident doesn't mean that they aren't
present. We just can't always see them. Our
psychocultural environment has become
increasingly hostile to life itself, and is in the
process of making the external bioenvironment
inhospitable in ways we're only beginning to realize.
Depending upon the system that created this
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situation to now save us from this situation is like
expecting an earthquake to rebuild the buildings it
had demolished. It just plain isn't going to happen.
As things stand, our wants and needs are neither

shared, nor aided by the power elite. They are, in
fact, consistently and violently opposed and
undermined by the actions of this relatively minute
portion of our population. The interests of this
minority are also in opposition to the best
interests of those we hold dear; our friends and
families. The actions taken in furtherance of the
interests of the power elite pose an increasingly
direct and dire threat to us and, ultimately, every
single person we hold dear. This can be seen to
affect our lives, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
The American government does not grant these
rights, as many assume, but instead is founded on
the recognition that these are rights granted to all
people, purely by virtue of being human. Any
action which violates these rights, whether or not
the action is government sanctioned, is a violation
of divinely ordained human sovereignty. Any
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individual engaged in such action, whether that
individual is acting on their own or under orders,
has chosen, of their own free will, to commit a
crime against that divine sovereignty.
The real question here is how to transform

dissatisfaction into action. By thinking in terms of
what someone else is doing wrong, we're wasting
energy which could be channeled into doing
something right. By even considering an action as a
response to injustice, we implicitly consent to
existing in the reality that gave rise to such
injustice. The most effective dissent is never a
response to an external situation, but a response
to the internal and personal connection with
divinity we all possess.
By cultivating awareness of our shared spiritual
reality, we can accept the conditional existence of
an imposed reality, without consenting to
participate in its injustices. By allowing this
cultivated awareness to become the cause of our
everyday actions, we can begin to transform the
experience of existing here and now. Essentially,
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we can redefine consensual reality without ever
having to struggle against anything bigger than our
own internal demons.
Though these demons can be far more powerful
than every conscious effort we can summon against
them, they're only a small part of what makes up
the entirety of the self. When the whole self is
brought to bear against these minute portions of
itself, these demons are cast out like bothersome
party guests. The true goal of dissent is effective
expression of a need for positive change in
everyday life. Like all real change, this comes
from within.
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Building strategy
Many people can accept that the present

psychocultural environment is toxic. We don't lack
the information telling us our way of doing things
isn't sustainable; and that it is, in fact, subject to
the same law of diminishing returns experienced by
every energetic system as it's complexity
increases. That same pesky wastefulness I
mentioned earlier will only continue to grow as our
lives become more complex. We don't lack reasons
to do things differently. What we do lack is a
viable alternative; an actual process that works as
good or better than the options we think we
presently possess. Until at least one is presented,
we'll continue to live out of balance.
I believe that such an alternative exists right
square under our noses, and that our collective
mind lacks only the eyes to see the alternative's
true viability. Our incessant need to limit the
definition of a given phenomenon by assigning it a
label is coupled with our inability to differentiate
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between physical reality and cultural construct.
The result is a paralysis of our collective public
self. In other words, we're so busy creating
committees and mistaking symbols for substance
that we've limited our ability to consider and act
upon our real possibilities as physical, social, and
spiritual beings.
A classic example of this can be seen in the big
anti-littering ad campaign launched as an industry
response to the creation of anti-pollution
legislation. In this situation, the consumer
behavior “littering” was presented to the public as
a symbol for pollution. The corporate coalition
that funded this campaign successfully turned
public attention away from the effectiveness of
bottle deposit recycling programs by linking the
symbol “littering” with the physical reality of
ecocide in the minds of consumers. After watching
commercials that featured a crying Indigenous man
on the side of a garbage-strewn highway, the
American public thought that throwing their empty
bottles into a landfill-bound bag, as opposed to on
the pavement, was an effective personal strategy
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for addressing the issue of environmental
degradation. The systemic destructiveness of our
industrial sector was allowed to continue unabated,
while the public believed our country's
environmental issues were being seen to.
The alternative I advocate can't be summed up

neatly as a single bulleted line item, nor can it be
wholly pursued while acting in support of our
present state of affairs. It involves stepping out
of our habits and into our lives, separating
ourselves from some of our most deeply ingrained
modalities, and redefining ourselves in terms of
sacred center. Most importantly, this alternative
involves no one-size-fits-all program, but rather
manifests in as many different ways as there are
people pursuing it. Describing such a seemingly
amorphous thing is a daunting task for both author
and reader, yet this descriptive process itself may
prove a valuable tool as we seek to build a workable
strategy.
The alternative I present here is founded on
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certain assumptions. Each of these assumptions
has its roots in the years I've dedicated to
research and development of this alternative.
Explicitly stating these assumptions is an obvious
and necessary foundation for the presentation of
these ideas. As always, it's important to draw
your own conclusions based on your own research
and considerations.
The first assumption here is that our present way
of life is wholly unsustainable. This is evidenced
by the increasing degree of economic and
ecological devastation we've been witnessing.
Further, it is underscored by numerous statistical
trends, comprehensive and rigorous scientific
studies, and the ever-present anecdotal evidence,
not to mention common sense.
The second assumption is that no one but us can
be expected to enact the necessary change in and
for us. Any proposed course of action must be
developed by those of us actually engaged in the
work of carrying it out. The reasoning behind this
one is fairly simple, but difficult for some to
accept. It is a two-fold reasoning. First, those "in
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charge" have a vested socioeconomic interest in
preventing the kinds of change which are
necessary. Second, every historical instance of an
externally applied framework or program meant to
create necessary change has resulted in unforseen,
and often dire, consequences for its "recipients".
Basically, every "top down" program we've
experienced has contributed to our present
untenable situation, and it seems foolish to expect
the cause of our problems to also solve our
problems.
The third assumption is that all natural systems,
as a matter of course, move perpetually towards a
relative state of energetic balance. Holistic
medicine, permaculture techniques, and general
observation of any energetic system, all serve to
demonstrate the validity of this assumption. Try
mixing a cup of hot water with a cup of cold water
and you end up with tepid water, because the
difference in temperature has balanced itself out;
stabilizing all on its own. The necessity and
usefulness of working under this assumption is
apparent, in that it facilitates both the
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understanding and execution of a realistic and
effective strategy.
The fourth assumption is that we are actually
capable of effecting the necessary change. This
assumption stands on somewhat shakier ground
than the previous three, as it will remain unproven
until the attempt is made. It is nonetheless
important for us to act on this assumption, as
doing otherwise would sabotage even our best
efforts in the matter. This assumption does away
with the widely accepted and systemically
perpetuated myth of our own powerlessness,
without introducing any new potential deterrents
to appropriate courses of action.
These four assumptions, when taken together,
form the logical beginnings of a strategy. What
we're doing isn't working, though we can take a
different course of action. It's us who must take
the action, because if we don't someone else
might, and we wouldn't like the results. As we
move towards a more balanced way of life, our
energy can be utilized more effectively, allowing us
to accomplish an increasingly greater realization
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of potential. In realizing our own potential, we
become able to do whatever may be needed to
effect necessary change in our lives. Keeping this
in mind, I'll begin presenting the alternative I've
been developing in conjunction with other members
of my community.
The strategy I'm talking about is simultaneously

executed internally, socially, and economically. Its
success is predicated on redefining everyday life in
such a way as to allow it to become an extension of
the whole self. Each of us is the single biggest
obstacle standing between ourselves and
successful movement towards balance. Stepping
out of the way of ourselves is essential for
successful implementation of the strategy, as our
culture has taught us to be our own worst enemies.
Unhealthy addictions, self defeating patterns of
thought and action, and invalid assumptions must
be shed if we're to avoid unintentionally
sabotaging our efforts. By allowing our presently
ineffective collective persona to die, this can be
accomplished.
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This process is quite intensive internally, as it
requires the absolute suspension of pre-existing
ideas about both one's self and the world. Only
when the illusions we hold are banished can we
begin to uncover our true nature. Our
psychocultural environment supports some very
harmful definitions of identity. These are
definitions that depend largely on economic status,
material possessions, racial bias, and the degree to
which others can be manipulated. Overcoming
these entrenched mindsets is risky business, yet
can be as simple as knowing the old self is dead,
like a memory to be learned from, or a child who
has since come of age.
Symbolic death can be effected in a variety of
ways, some more productive than others. In
general, the degree to which an individual is
conscious of their own process here determines
how smoothly their "death" manifests. It can be a
profound experience, and is profoundly
disconcerting when it happens as a result of either
external or subconscious events; a bit like closing
your eyes on a tire swing. My own personal
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experience with it has been anything but pleasant
on those occasions when I had no real idea of what
was happening. If you've read this far into the
book, I suspect you've already experienced some
measure of what I'm talking about. The simple act
of going to sleep at night is a little-death. Our
physical bodies are continually dying and being
reborn on a cellular level.
What I'm trying to explain is an awareness of the
death-and-rebirth ritual as it manifests on a mass
scale. It feels different to each of us, for we
each have a different role in its manifestation.
Whether we like it or not makes little difference,
as it happens as a matter of course. It's actually
been happening all along, but becoming aware of it
places us in a unique position to utilize its potential.
With the increasingly rapid change our collective
body is experiencing, this “ritual” is carried out
more and more often. For us, this means we can
now re-create our role within its workings almost
continually. The “alternative strategy” I present
here seeks to aid in the creation of a situation
which fosters personal choice in whatever roles we
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are able to take on in our collective “ritual.”
In order to try and keep things simple, this
alternative can be looked at in terms of three
primary principals. Conveniently enough, they all
begin with the letter “d”. Principals provide
different kinds boundaries than rules. It can feel
pretty good to break rules. Making a rule for
yourself is the first step towards breaking that
rule. On the other hand, it almost never feels
good to go against principals, so I've chosen to
label these “three D's” as principals.
Diversify
Diversifying your energy investments is key in any

strategy which seeks to adapt to our reasonably
unpredictable future, thus providing an essential
balancing factor in our culture of over-
specialization . This can be accomplished in such a
way as to promote perpetual progress towards
one's "ideal" way of life, without sacrificing
potential opportunities along the way. "Not putting
all your eggs in one basket" has never been more
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relevant, yet can prove very difficult in our
present psychocultural context.
Consider vocation, the all-important job. It used
to be possible to work a single, relatively
specialized job for an entire lifetime. Those days
have all but disappeared with the advent of
multinational corporations. Their exploitation of
cheap foreign labor via outsourcing has dismantled
our manufacturing base, while at the same time all
but forcing us to be dependent on that very same
exploitation for the inexpensive goods and services
we've come to expect. Many of our cities are now
part of what's called "the new service economy",
which translates into low-wage jobs with zero
security and paltry benefits; jobs where our
permanent underclass serves the power elite. I
personally reject this model as both unsustainable
and inequitable, yet it opens the door for a
different sort of model to be implemented.
The model I present is based on one undeniable
fact of faceless corporatocracy. Though it's
maintained by very real human individuals, the
corporatocracy itself is faceless and inhuman. I
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believe it's possible to take advantage of our
obvious lack of personal economic importance by
setting up something of an "open source"
alternative economy centered around barter. The
task is not as difficult as it may appear at first,
because it's such a natural step for us to take.
For one thing, it's less of a hassle to give your
baker friend a knife you made in exchange for
some bread than it is to try and market that same
knife to a stranger. Plus, your baker friend
probably would prefer not to give some of that
bread to a third party who has proven they
wouldn't do a whole lot to help either of you.
This alternative model does require a community
with a diverse resource base. This is its biggest
challenge. We're by and large conditioned to
associate with those most similar to ourselves,
especially in regards to economic position, and not
to associate with those different from ourselves.
Luckily, we can change this merely by expanding
our range of activities and personal interactions.
All we have to do is allow for this, and it happens
seemingly of its own volition. It's all about
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intentionally creating situations where this type of
exchange makes the most sense.
Redefining social interaction is a necessary step
here. We're conditioned to interact primarily
around economic activities. When we interact
around economic productivity, we call it work.
When we interact around economic consumption,
we call it leisure. The vast majority of these
interactions are designed by our corporate
overlords to channel our money and energy into
their coffers, yet this need not be the case. By
diversifying our interests, education, economic
activity, and social interactions, we can begin to
see a new model take shape.
I present this mainly in terms of economics,
because that's what we're conditioned to
understand. Money really doesn't have much to do
with the essence of the strategy, though. The
principal of diversification I'm presenting has far
more to do with becoming aware of how we allow
the tunnel vision of specialization to limit our
options. Once we become aware of this, we can
begin to consciously expand those options. Also,
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we've become accustomed to limiting most of our
interactions to impersonal exchanges. Getting in
touch with everyday spirituality is an intensely
personal process that can't be “shut off” simply
because a person happens to be conducting
“business”. We need to learn to create roles for
ourselves that support spiritual learning without
placing impossible expectations on the economic
situation we depend on for survival, and this might
mean cooperatively redefining our economic
situation.
Decentralize and Cut Out the Middleman
The way we do things is inefficient in the

extreme. It takes more than ten calories of
fossil-fuel energy for every calorie of food energy
we intake, and that number is growing. In other
words, we put many times more energy into our
food than we can possibly get out of it. Whole
industries are founded on the premise that
technological complexity, in cooperation with
centralized distribution systems, is the best way
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for us to organize ourselves. The fact is, this is
"best" only for the power elite and their hordes of
sticky-palmed middlemen. Think about this for
just a moment. Does it make sense to depend on an
unsustainable system to sustain us indefinitely?
Banks are not there to help you make more
money. Their business is in making money off your
money. They provide the illusion of convenience, in
exchange for some of your money. They control
huge amounts of money, and consistently fail to be
anything but self-serving. Insurance companies,
likewise, offer no real net benefit to using their
services. They simply raise rates to recoup any
claims they pay out, thus becoming little more than
banks themselves. Being a part of a real
community means being taken care of in times of
duress, as well as caring for those community
members unable to care for themselves. Real
community is its own insurance. It's only the
systematic dismantling of true community we've
experienced that allows such illogical industries
the ability to form. The same could be said of law
enforcement, as well as the entire judicial system
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in this country. That's not to say we don't need
rules, but rather that appropriate rules are self
and socially-reinforced in an actual community
setting. Our responsibility to the community has
been abdicated, and replaced by a responsibility to
the corporate state. The community's
responsibility to us has been transformed into
mere control mechanisms which serve only to keep
us enslaved.
I, for one, would rather cut out all the
middlemen. This frees up a huge amount of
personal energy otherwise used to perpetuate our
unhealthy psychocultural environment, while at the
same time lessening our dependence on it. It's
simply a matter of choosing not to participate in
unhealthy psychocultural systems, and learning to
make everyday choices based on how you want the
world to be for you. The lower stress of the
lifestyle afforded by these simple choices
translates into better physical, mental, and
emotional health. It can also free up time to
devote to the things we mostly think are really
important; things like family, continuing education,
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and community building. It really isn't that hard.
All it takes is time, ingenuity, and, above all, faith
in a cooperative and largely intuitive process.
Independence from centralized systems of
essential resource control and distribution is very
difficult for most people to realize. The sad fact
is that the legal, social, and economic controls
placed on us all were intentionally devised to
prevent exactly this independence. The easiest
way to accomplish this independence is through
steadily implementing small changes, as sweeping
reform of one's life seldom provides lasting
results. The A.A. axiom “one day at a time” comes
to mind. Begin by taking responsibility for your
own education, and it becomes easier to identify
reasonable solutions to problems of corporate and
government dependence. There are many paths to
freedom, but they all begin with everyday life.
Many strategies for change have been put forth
over the years, but the problem is that most of
them don't really make sense. They either fail in
their assumptions, or fail to have any reasonable
potential for implementation. Totalitarian
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communism is great for ants (as we see ants), but
really sucks for humans. Capitalism works great on
a small scale, but has turned into the monster
under our beds with the new global corporate
oligarchy. Even tribalism, with all its modern
neoprimitivist proponents, has demonstrated its
shortcomings in a variety of unpleasant situations
precipitated by ignorance and the exploitation
thereof. What we need to do is get as far away
from our one-size-fits-all mentality as possible, if
we hope to develop a sensible personal strategy.
It's an unavoidable fact that economic
decentralization would devastate our population if
it happened all at once. As most of us depend on
our current system to sustain us, it would be
foolish in the extreme to toss it aside
prematurely. Realistically speaking (and barring
catastrophic societal collapse), it'll take a couple
of decades for us to learn the necessary skills to
accomplish any kind of effective economic
decentralization. This, coupled with our
unprecedented resource-wealth, puts us in a prime
position to begin our learning without having to
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depend on it for our immediate survival.
As with the first principal, money doesn't really
have much to do with the essence of
decentralization. I use it as a symbolic device
here, in an attempt to get at a larger
decentralization which needs to take place: The
decentralization of idea generation. We've
become so dependent on the ephemeral “other” for
the ideas we adopt and perpetuate, it's a wonder
any of us can think for ourselves anymore.
Without taking the time to personally consider
spirituality, and engage those we know and love in
conversations about spiritual matters without
outside interference, how can we even begin to see
ourselves as the origin of our own expression? If
we're to choose what roles we take on in our
collective death-and-rebirth process, we need to
retake ownership of those roles, as well as how
they're defined in our everyday lives.
Discipline: An Internal Solution
We're taught to submit to external discipline
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from a young age. We learn to obey our parents,
our institutions, and our laws. We're also taught
that without our externally-imposed "law and
order", humans will "descend into chaos". That
without "law and order", we'll all revert to some
unimaginably evil animal-state. This is bullshit,
frankly, as evidenced by the overwhelmingly
incidence of spontaneous community appearing
when "critical infrastructure" is down. When the
power was out in New York City a few years ago,
there wasn't a crime wave. Instead, there were
parties in the streets, where neighbors who had
never before met got a chance to get to know one
another. When government emergency efforts
failed miserably to address the needs of a
devastated population during and after Hurricane
Katrina, some took self-serving advantage of the
chaos, but mostly people banded together to share
food, supplies, and protection. (Never mind that
police officers were actively attempting to disband
these groups, actually stealing their food and
water at gunpoint, among other things).
Most people are perfectly capable of disciplining
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themselves. Most people can be trusted to not
break reasonable laws or intentionally harm their
fellow citizens all on their own; no official
oversight needed. If a person has healthy social
relationships, their friends or family let them know
when they aren't behaving themselves. Like the
old line of reasoning goes: If the lawless disobey
the law, and reasonable people don't need laws to
tell them what their values already reinforce, then
who are the laws really serving?
We're not raised to be our own masters, but we
are, nonetheless, perfectly equipped to do exactly
this. The trick seems to be allowing one's self to
take control, while at the same time exercising
control over which aspects of the self are allowed
free rein. Essentially, it means learning to
facilitate cooperation between all of one's
constituent parts. As all parts of an individual
begin to work together, an unshakable discipline
will begin to emerge. Think submission to divine
will, for we all possess an inherent and irrevocable
connection to divinity.
This discipline is not one which uses force to
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control. Indeed, forcefulness here will generally
be met with an equal and opposing force internally.
This is a discipline of attention; of learning to be
with your whole self. It requires forgetting
everything you think you know about yourself, in
order to really see yourself. Momentum is the
primary mechanism by which discipline affects an
individual's progress. Traditionally, this momentum
has been generated by adherence to rigid control
systems imposed externally, until such a time as
the individual internally re-creates the control
system. While such an approach has advantages, it
fails miserably in its utter inability to foster the
unique and individuated discipline we need here.
A more effective approach incorporates a similar
initial adherence to a somewhat rigid system of
deliberately-patterned thought and action.
Instead of this system being invented and imposed
by an external source, however, it is the individual
in the context of community that defines it. The
system is, essentially, the co-created product of
the process used to develop an individuated and
socially functional interpretive framework for
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engaging objective reality in a disciplined manner.
Put simply, discipline is about commitment. It's
about committing one's self to honoring
agreements with self and community. Taken as a
whole, these agreements form a comprehensive
framework for effective direction of an
individual's process, as well as clearly defining the
individual's role in their own, actual community.
Resources
Moving from the theoretical to the practical in

these matters can be difficult for many reasons.
In the land of theory, it can still be viewed as a
sort of game. However, once a person begins to
apply the theory in daily life, the stakes are raised
considerably. It's a frightening process for the
individual in question, certainly, but it's also a
direct assault on the untruths foundational to our
psychocultural environment. As such, those
invested in maintaining this out-of-balance world
will, without remorse, seek to destroy any
emerging threat to their own perceived power.
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The extent to which a person is culturally
enfranchised determines the extent to which they
will bring difficulty to those who act to initiate any
kind of real change, simply because they're
programmed to.
In order for our efforts to possess even the
possibility of effectiveness, it's essential to
clearly understand the energies at our disposal.
For simplicity's sake, I break these energies into
general categories. The first of these is financial.
Monetary resources are fairly easy to take stock
of. They're already quantified, and need only be
examined without regard to their former
dedicated destination. In other words, forget
about spending patterns for a moment and see
what's there to be spent. Do likewise with other
"liquid assets" and just keep the numbers in mind.
The next category is slightly less clear cut, yet
still can be defined without too much trouble. It
encompasses all the accumulated skills and
knowledge a person has developed throughout the
course of everyday life. Taking stock of the
resources in this category entails grasping the
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specific skill or knowledge, as well as assessing the
relative depth of understanding possessed in each
respective area. It might seem tedious, but there
are some simple tricks to accomplish this without
too much trouble. One of these is an adaptation of
a concept I learned from a former fencing
instructor of mine.
The basic premise is that, if you can say four
things about a subject, then you can say you know
something about it. If you can then go on to say
four things about each of those four things, you
can then begin to teach the subject. The number
four is somewhat arbitrary here, as three or five
things might be equally effective. The important
thing is the process of organizing and documenting
what you know, in order to create and clarify a
picture of the resources you possess in this
category. It's a process which takes some time.
It can be helpful to engage this process in the
context of a small group, because often those
around us can see in us what we can not.
The third category I present is the most
difficult to consider, as it involves all manner of
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subjective value judgments. This is the realm of
interconnected human networks, be they familial,
social, or economic in nature. Everyone has access
to some measure of resources through these
networks, yet identifying and utilizing these
resources effectively can be a difficult task. It's
well known that the connections and communication
channels a person possesses can make or break an
endeavor. With this consideration, it's no surprise
to discover that the socially acceptable methods
for interacting with these networks are almost
entirely predicated on manipulative and dishonest
representation of information. From closet-case-
queer preachers to influence-peddling politicians,
flaky friends to dready-feddies (law enforcement
officers pretending to be drugged-out hippies), we
see before us a plethora of inauthentic and
deceptive expressions of humanity, unparalleled in
our known history. Care must be taken, then, to be
discerning in the relationships one cultivates.
Taking stock of the human resources available to
one's self requires honesty in examining position,
connection, and motivation. It also requires trust,
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but not in the way we're taught to consider it.
The trust is trusting people to be themselves
without ever really knowing what that means, as
well as trusting the idea that intuitive and spiritual
processes are at work within a given situation,
regardless of how that situation looks on the
surface. What I'm getting at here is a mindset; a
state of conscious attention. The point is that
effective utilization of available human resources
will only occur after all attempts at quantifying,
calculating and intentionally influencing these
resources have ceased, and one's relationships
have become an extension of the whole self.
Once you have an idea of what you're working
with in terms of resources, it becomes much easier
to see where you stand. If such an inventory is
expanded to encompass all aspects of everyday
life, and no aspect is allowed to remain
unexamined, then the difference between where
you are and where you want to be can be honestly
explored. It's this exploration that gives rise to
an understanding of how to proceed. While the
whole way there will certainly not be clear until
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you're “there”, all that really matters is the first
step. When every step is allowed to become such a
“first step”, the path to “there” will always be
clear.
Debt
This section wouldn't be complete if it failed to

address one of our most pressing issues involving
resources. I'm talking about debt. As a society,
we've become deeply indebted. Two years ago, the
savings of the average American began its descent
into the negative. In other words, we each have,
on average, less than zero money at our disposal.
The American consumer base is the single largest
resource base in the world. It's worth more than
all the oil fields on the planet. Its worth more
than all the gold ever mined. This fact wasn't lost
on the global corporatocracy, and now that
resource base, like so many others, has been
largely exhausted.
It's no surprise that Americans spend more
money on gambling than every other form of
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entertainment combined. This is merely a
reflection of the impossible situation we've
allowed to come into being. As the power elite
consolidate and hoard a greater portion of our
overall wealth, more and more people are left to
fight over fewer and fewer scraps. This process
has been accelerating at an exponential rate.
We're told the entitlement of the power elite is
granted by the financial risks they take, so we
take personal financial risks in hopes of emulating
their successes. This doesn't work, of course,
because the risks they take don't result in
personal ruin for them. We simply don't have the
support the economic system grants them, purely
by virtue of their mostly inherited socioeconomic
status.
Moving from the realm of personal debt to that
of public debt, our country owes more money to its
creditors than any country ever has, ever. Most
people think their income tax is used by the
government for government operations. This is not
true. Our income tax, all of it, is entirely
dedicated to paying a small portion of the interest
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on our public debt. Getting into specifics might be
more distracting than it's worth, though. Do your
own research if you doubt my assertions here.
The point I'm trying to make is not too
complicated. We pretty much allow ourselves to
finance every aspect of our out-of-balance
lifestyle with debt, and this debt provides one of
the most common excuses for not changing the way
we choose to live. An excuse is all it is; a line of
reasoning that allows us to continue perpetuating
unhealthy cycles, without taking responsibility for
our actions.
This most difficult of situations calls for a
somewhat drastic course of action, if the
alternative strategy put forth here is to be
allowed to succeed. Not to include a description of
this course of action, and the reasoning behind it,
would be doing you a disservice. Still, it seems
important to address the situation delicately, as it
involves so much entangled emotional energy.
In keeping with the spiritual focus of this book,
there is a biblical precedent for alleviating the
debt-cycles of a society. It's found in the book of
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Leviticus, and is called Jubilee. In a Jubilee year,
wealth is redistributed and debt is forgiven on a
mass scale. The regular forgiveness of debt was a
fundamental principal in Judaic tradition, as it
provided a means for society to flourish without
allowing the instability of its inherently
unsustainable economic aspects to erode that
society's foundation. Jubilee offered a way for
the wealthy to exhibit public forgiveness of debt,
increasing their social status. At the same time, it
prevented the poor from having to rise up against
their rulers in order to avoid indefinite servitude.
We have no such tradition here, and still we have
to find a reasonable way of addressing the issue of
debt.
The first thing to look at here is the effect of
such all-pervasive debt. The spiritual effects of it
are evident. Our perpetual and often involuntary
debt manifests mostly as fear. This fear works
with its ugly cousin, dis-empowerment, to create a
basis for everyday actions separate from our
divine connection. If our actions are separate
from our spiritual intentions, we are without hope;
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our actions become evil. If our actions are
disconnected from our spiritual intentions, we've
quite missed the point of living as spiritual beings.
Our belief in the reality of unavoidable debt to the
power elite causes us to become the wrongness we
seek to do away with.
It used to be that bankruptcy was our societal
death-and-rebirth ritual for solving this problem
when it became too burdensome; we used to be
capable of being “reborn” economically. There are
a variety of ways this ritual has been undermined
by the power elite, which I don't have the space to
get into here. Suffice it to say this ritual no
longer functions effectively, and a new type of
ritual is needed.
The actual effects of not repaying debt to
corporate creditors mostly has to do with not
being able to go into further debt, by way of
“credit rating” damage. It becomes more difficult
to do things within the psychocultural environment,
but that's the very environment we need to
reinvent for the strategy I offer to succeed.
Student loans can be deferred indefinitely by
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becoming a “perpetual student”. Home loans can
be done away with altogether by saving up enough
money to pay up front, or, more reasonably, by
working with the right property owner to find
alternative means of transferring the property
rights. Credit card and medical debt can be
largely ignored by intentionally limiting monetary
income, and paying only a bit at a time.
The key to solving our debt dependence lies in a
willingness to change the way we live, period. This
needs to be a personal, as well as cooperative,
process. Frankly, if we're to avoid the new debt
slavery that's come about recently, we need to
create a shared death-and-rebirth ritual that
results in ceasing to participate in our
psychocultural environment's economy at all. It
has ushered in a new indentured servitude, failed
to deliver on its promise of equal opportunity, and
doesn't really benefit the vast majority of us in
any meaningful way. Also, and maybe more
importantly, it has begun to crumble. Perpetual
growth is an imaginary idea, and the only thing
we've been growing with our economic practices is
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debt. Despite the media's expert manipulation of
our views, it's plainly evident that this situation
can't continue much longer. It seems utterly
foolish to keep investing in such a losing
proposition just because it's the only game in town,
and we're too stupid or lazy to figure out
something better.
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Action
This chapter boils down to the notion of

awareness as a necessary prelude to effective
action. To possess a sense of who and what you
are, a clear idea of what you're working with, and
an accurate picture of your place in the world,
makes effectiveness attainable. Only when energy
can be effectively directed can our actions truly
reflect our conscious intentions. The challenge
then becomes one of clarifying those intentions,
and then doing something about it.
On its basest level, as our most clever scientists

understand it, the present moment is a perpetually
collapsing matrix of probability waves. Once a
thing has happened, its probability has reached
one, whereas the probability of alternative
possibilities occurring has become zero. The little
difference between zero and one here determine
all aspects of reality, shaping everything that does
and does not exist. How the wave collapses is a
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product of intelligence; the effect of
consciousness acting upon itself in differentiated
form. In ancient Sumer, they had a specific word
for this intelligence, sa.digir.re.e.ne, meaning
“secret will of the gods”. They knew there was no
second-guessing destiny; no denying the actuality
of real reality. Though they couldn't always see
the structure of the laws governing existence,
they knew there were such laws, and knew better
than to equate the unseen with the nonexistent.
It is precisely this unseen that is of prime
importance and immediate concern here. If we
consider the known world to be the entirety of the
world, then we are probably doomed, but if we can
admit that what is unknown far surpasses that
which is known, new possibilities come to light. If
we can learn to interact with these possibilities,
we increase the probability of getting a glimpse
into the nature of actual potential. A glimpse is all
it takes to get consciousness to communicate with
its own potential. It's this communication that
serves to establish an internal framework for
interpreting manifest reality as a conversation
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between infinite and individuated divinity.
Working on a far subtler level than the mind in
waking life, this interpretive framework functions
as a map of the true world. With such a map,
routes can be carefully chosen, and unnecessary
obstacles avoided.
The complimentary practices of prayer and
meditation, however they may be practiced, serve
to facilitate this communication, and thus serve
the process of beginning to see the real world. To
see the real world is to begin actually participating
in life, as opposed to merely responding to illusion
after illusion. To see the real world is to awaken
one's true self. The power of the true self is that
of divinity, for the nature of the true self is
divinity engaged in the process of getting to know
itself. Learning to act in partnership with this
process is the key to effective action. To do what
makes sense for the whole being, and not do what
doesn't make sense, is the simple essence of
effective action.
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Our Stories: Beyond the Bullshit
It would be easy to write this section in an

alienating and offensive manner, letting fanatical
urgency drown out rational examination. Likewise,
it would be none-too-difficult to forfeit legitimacy
by trying to appeal to a wider audience than, I
think, this book speaks to. Neither approach
seems terribly productive here, and I assume that
a reader who's gotten this far is ready to move
beyond the bullshit. In fact, I believe moving
beyond the bullshit is precisely the point.
I very nearly didn't include this section, for the
simple reason that it might get me into trouble
with certain entrenched powers in this most
hostile of psychocultural environments. If you, the
reader, see the value in the ideas I put forth here,
then you also may find yourself attracting
difficulty from those same entities. My suspicion
is that anyone who's open to these ideas is already
in some manner of a precarious position with
regard to entrenched power; whether physically,
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emotionally, or psychologically. As such, it would
be less responsible of me to omit this section than
to include it.
Picture a dragon in your mind. Any dragon will do,

so long as the image is clear. Now, forget the
dragon, and imagine a jewel heist. Just take a
moment to look at how your mind constructs the
scene. Try doing the same thing with a battle.
Okay, what did you see? If you live in modern
times, you probably saw in your mind's eye a
memory of an image viewed on a cathode ray tube;
a screen. You saw an image or scene from someone
else's imagination; the pretend version of “dragon”
or “jewel heist” or “battle” as deliberately
presented by some faction of the power elite in
order to elicit an emotional response in the
collective psyche. The point isn't the specific
images I suggested you picture. The point is that
our imaginations aren't really exercised by
picturing someone else's imaginings.
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The point is that our thought process has been
hijacked by such imagery, and our consciousness
has been entrained by the patterns it programs
into our reality. Essentially, we've been robbed of
our capacity to participate in the process of
defining our own mythic understanding of reality.
This, at first glance, may not seem too bad.

Some would go so far as to argue that it's a good
thing, for why shouldn't the myths characterizing
our society be presented to us by professional
myth-makers? I mean, they look cool, right? Are
they not the product of some of our best and
brightest thinkers and artists? The doing of those
we've deemed the best equipped to generate such
things? These arguments might be valid if we lived
in a fair and equitable psychocultural environment,
but we do not.
The problems begin with ownership. We have a
vested interest in our mythic reality, and that
interest is only served through collective
generation and ownership of the shared stories
which constitute this reality. The situation we
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face is such that our shared stories have been
made proprietary, mere products for consumption,
and the time we used to spend generating these
stories has been replaced with time spent laboring
away to obtain monies to pay their ransom.
Further, our own stories and experiences have
become near worthless if they happen to either
conflict with, or bear inexact similarity to, the
myths we're handed in this artificial reality.
What I'm getting at is the importance of
reclaiming individual and collective ownership of
the mythic portion of our psychocultural
environment. First off, our lives are far more
interesting and valuable than we have been made to
believe. The actual reality we're immersed in is
substantially more relevant and curious than the
myths we're machine-fed. Also, much to the liking
of the power elite, our capacity for creativity has
atrophied, and our visionary potential so far
degraded that we hardly live at all anymore.
To address this issue in the context of everyday
life, I believe it's necessary to redefine reality
itself, or rather to retake our capacity for
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defining the world in which we live. Attempting to
do this in my own life, I quickly discovered some
extreme incongruities between the information
accessible to us, and the models we're given for
interpreting how that information relates to itself,
as well as the larger world. Trying to make sense
of the nonsensical is what it amounted to, for many
years, because so much of the information I was
given just didn't fit. Finally, I was forced to face
facts, and came to see a story of humanity
emerging that, though at odds with most
acceptable notions of reality, became undeniable to
my way of thinking.
Every version of the human story holds some seed
of truth, with varying traditions containing the
various and diverse truths which account for the
bulk of the real story. By the story's very nature,
no tradition can lay claim to its complete body,
every tradition's version of the story possesses a
unique aspect of the story's essence, and each
tradition came about in order to serve specific
functions within the collective body of humanity.
Beginning with the present, we know a few things
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about where we stand. First off, over half of the
people ever to exist are alive right now. This fact
alone puts us in a startling historic context. We
know that global environmental collapse is
underway, that the quality of our air and water and
soil is being degraded at an exponentially
increasing rate, and it's possible that we've
exceeded the planet's natural carrying capacity
for our species. We know that, by our collective
actions, mass extinction of myriad species is well
underway, and that the health of our physical,
mental, and emotional bodies, when viewed as
aspects of a whole system, has been severely
compromised.
We know that wealth and power have been
consolidated into fewer and fewer hands relative
to population, that the power elite have instituted
measures which force this consolidation of wealth
and power to continue at an exponentially
increasing rate, that the scope of their control
mechanisms is global and thus seemingly
inescapable, and that their actions serve interests
at odds with the interests of our species. Also, we
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know that they have access to information
inaccessible to us, and that they use this
information for their own exclusive interests.
None of this, I hope, is new information. I'm
simply stating the obvious in order to lend context
to what it is we are looking at.
What this means for us, and for our stories, may
be a bit less obvious. Certainly it means that our
stories must be important. After all, our stories
are lived as well as recounted. In a deeper sense,
it implies that the significance of our stories has
actually grown in proportion to our population, and
that the potential impact of one generation upon
the world left to the next generation has become
nearly unfathomable to our puny human minds. Our
stories are the stories of a dying world, and if we
choose to embrace them, might become the stories
of a world newly formed.
It's well within our power to take ownership of

the stories we live. Our personal stories, both in
their living and their telling, are largely reflections
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of the symbolic roles we choose to take on. Our
shared stories are constructed upon the roles we
choose to assign to one another. To take
ownership of these stories is the most natural
thing in the world, and is actually quite a bit easier
than denying one's self the opportunity. The
human psyche creatively interprets reality, as it
pertains to our stories, as a matter of course. All
we really have to do is decide which stories to
adopt.
I would argue that the best way to choose our
stories is to look at what's actually functional.
The best story for a person is the one that works
the best for that person. Most people operate by
merely responding to the stories put forth to them
by others, constructing painfully dramatic or
improbable plot lines to account for the inherent
imbalances present in such an approach. There are
innumerable ways to describe any one thing, yet
the most useful description will generally be the
easiest to accept. Take, for example, these two
descriptions of our present historical position.
Both might be said to be accurate, yet neither
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seems terribly useful:
Example 1:) What we've inherited from our

forefathers is nothing short of hell's foundation
masquerading as the brink of techno-paradise.
Those who came before us, mostly in ignorance,
stole the world from us and delivered it into the
hands of those who would destroy it. The world
wasn't enough for the powers that be, so they
convinced our more recent ancestors to sell us into
the inescapable slavery we found ourselves faced
with here upon coming of age. Even that wasn't
enough. The powers wanted more, and demanded
our very minds become complicit in their terrible
scheme. They've made themselves gods in the
eyes of men, seeking total control of every single
aspect of life. And they've almost got it.
Those who came before us stole our lives. They
stole our land. They stole our opportunities. Our
thoughts. Our perceptions. Our feelings. If
we're good slaves, they'll return a small portion of
these to us in order to maintain their illusory
world. If we're bad slaves, they'll torture and kill
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us as they have so many, blaming the victim as
always. Indeed, they've created a situation where
bad slaves mostly torture and kill one another or
themselves when faced with this reality.
Our parents, and their parents before them, had
an opportunity to change things, and did not.
Whether fear, ignorance, or complacency is to
blame, no one knows. Certainly, most thought they
were doing the right thing at the time. The fact
remains that, by their words and actions, we were
born into a nearly impossible position. It falls upon
us to ensure no future generation is forced to
endure an inheritance the likes of ours, or worse.
Example Two: We stand at the brink of

unparalleled human excellence. Our scientific
marvels make mythic miracles a new reality. We
routinely move across the land at great speeds in
vehicles which harness the power of many people
into a small mechanical contraption. We fly
through the sky in big metal birds. We talk to
each other by bouncing our voices off
refrigerator-sized gadgets we launch into space.
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By incessant effort through the ages, and despite
those who have always sought to undermine
progress, humanity has managed to harness its
hardship and turn it into determined ingenuity.
All things have a price, though, and some
sacrifices must be made. With our technological
advancement comes the responsibility to prevent
that technology from being used for the
destructive ends sought by enemies of the people.
Our forefathers worked hard, and made sacrifices
we can't imagine, so we could have what we have
today. As we achieve greater heights, our
challenges become ever greater, and we must rise
to the occasion. The future of freedom depends
on it.
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Developing Narrative
The above examples aren't wrong, merely one-

sided and not really relevant. Their scope is too
big, and their terms too ambiguous to define much
of anything. They're bullshit stories, put forth to
illustrate our all-too-common predisposition to
melodramatic expression of sentiment divorced
from the observable details of everyday truths.
The true power of our story acts not in the realm
of abstractions and generalized trends, but in the
gritty, mundane, manifest experience. Developing
a narrative which serves to make sense of one's
place in the world is an incredibly powerful act, for
the story doesn't merely describe life. The story,
to some extent, becomes life.
In order to construct a meaningful personal
narrative, the subjective experiences of everyday
life need to be framed properly. Its form must be
both an extension of its function, and a bridge
between an individual's internal and external
worlds. Ideally, the personal narrative is
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articulated in such a way as to facilitate the co-
creation of a larger, collective story whose
meaning is evident in the experience of its
absorption.
Chronology, the time factor, is a common, as well
as useful, point of departure in endeavoring to
develop the narrative. Chronology offers an
objective structure to the story, serving to
organize events and phenomena without implying
judgment of their content. In beginning with the
when, instead of the what, the narrative is allowed
to express an experiential process to its creator,
as well as its audience. Also, any experience of
non-ordinary reality involved can be seen with
respect to a more or less concrete context.
Once the when is mapped out, and the temporal
relationships between events uncovered, the real
business of story development can be undertaken.
It's often helpful, even necessary, to enlist the aid
of others in this process. Too often, attempts at
creating such a story fail for lack of essential
clarity, and multiple perspectives can prove
invaluable in determining the areas in which
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further clarification is needed.
One method I've found particularly useful here is
in a model for storytelling I learned as part of a
sociology course some years back. A small group
setting is utilized, and participants take turns
telling stories. The thing that differentiates this
process from others is that it doesn't allow any
questions to be asked of the storyteller. It's a bit
awkward at first, because we're naturally inclined
to want to know more. What happens over time,
though, is the storytellers begin to narrate their
experiences in a more complete manner, and the
process conditions its participants to consider and
relate details which otherwise would have
remained hidden.
For the power of the narrative to be fully
realized, describing mere memories is not enough.
The events in question must be relived, actually re-
experienced, for them to convey their essential
character. It's a time-consuming, and often
painful, process for which there is no substitute.
Its difficulties, however, are inevitably justified
by its beneficial nature. One by one, the events
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which shape a life are explored and mythologized;
their complex layers of symbolic meaning allowed
to come alive. In short, the effective generation
of such a personal narrative allows one's life to
become relevant in a way our disconcertingly
disconnected psychocultural environment can't
touch.
By combining the personal narratives of the
individuals constituting a group, a larger story
begins taking shape. It's this larger story we're
really after, for the larger story emerges as an
authentic reflection of the real world. It doesn't
matter if the larger story fits previously held
notions of how things are. It doesn't matter if
the larger story conflicts with the reality dictated
to us by the psychocultural environment. For all
intents and purposes, the larger story is the world.
Its reality holds primacy over all else, for the very
living of our lives constitute its foundation.
There are not billions of people alive right now.

We've been told otherwise, but it's true. There
are, at most, only a few thousand. For many
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people, there are only a couple hundred. For some,
only dozens. The entire world, for a given
individual, is only as vast as their experience of it.
The nature of our minds is such that we can not
conceive of a world beyond experience, yet must
attempt to do exactly this in the course of
everyday life. Life itself is a process of watching
the world grow larger by the day.
The quantity of information we now have
immediate access to has far exceeded our capacity
for processing said information. The benefits of
this situation are evident, in that we can uncover in
a short time what, only a few generations ago, took
lifetimes to seek out. For the first time in our
known history, we literally have access to the
entire world. This access, though, is incredibly
deceptive. It exposes us to ideas which may or
may not be valid, without offering the means to
truly verify the credibility or context of the
source. By the very nature of the technology,
we're presented a variety of biased ideas, for the
people using technology to spread their ideas have,
implicitly, agreed to embrace and validate the use
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of that technology as a new universal language.
Anyone familiar with the old story of the Tower of
Babel can see striking similarity to this modern
construct, yet choosing not to participate in this
technological realm dramatically limits a person's
ability to make their ideas accessible to the world
at large.
The real question is how we choose to tell the
story of these times, and who we present that
story to. The real issue is one of making sure that
story is authentic and meaningful; that its telling
be honest and compelling. We've been given the
illusion of seeing the whole world, but all we will
ever truly see are our own lives. To reclaim these
lives is to relinquish our imaginary hold on the
world, mythologize the mundane, and transform us
little nobodies into important participants in our
own lives.
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Owning Our Days
Our psychocultural environment places an

incredible emphasis on the idea of ownership.
Sometimes it seems as if our collective agenda is
simply to lay claim to every bit of every possible
thing in existence. Buying and selling has done
more to physically connect the human world than
all of our other activities combined. We lay awake
thinking about money. We send people to prison
for stealing ideas. We have nearly innumerable
quantities of documents detailing the ownership of
every square inch of land.
There's an unspoken and foundational assumption
here which demands consideration. It has
something to do with a fear of reprisal for any
personally undertaken act which assumes
ownership of a previously unclaimed asset; a fear
of taking control by untested means. It has more
to do, though, with confusion. We are confused as
to what can and can't actually be owned. We
unquestioningly accept the idea that life can be
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owned on the one hand, yet are afraid to own our
own lives on the other.
So often in our culture, our experience of reality

is disjointed. In fact, the discontinuous
experience of reality is key to the perpetuation of
our society as-it-is. Dream-time is seen as not
"real", and cast aside as peripherally important at
best. We view dream-time as imaginary, and our
dream-time experiences as inconsequential. Then
we separate waking reality into further disjointed
categories; work is not play, play is not worship,
and so on. The dissimilarity in our perception of
the environments these activities take place in is
mirrored in the psychocultural dissimilarity we
impose on our experience of these.
It wasn't always this way. The idea of not
working where we live is a relatively recent
development. Our psychocultural environment
fosters and perpetuates this disjointed experience
of reality. Most of us don't even own our homes or
have any claim to the land upon which they sit. We
pay for the right to occupy a given space for a
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specified time, after which we have no right to it.
We do this by going to a different place to
perform activities which further perpetuate this
state of affairs, in order to earn money for
someone who already has money, so they'll give us
a portion of that money. If we save any money, we
entrust it to institutions that make money off of
our money, so they'll give us a portion of what they
made off our money (interest). The function of
government is the facilitation of growth in
economic activity. We pay taxes so our
government can further the interests of the
wealthy. Part of this furtherance is keeping the
populace docile, so we don't consider the situation
too carefully. A larger part is the deeply-rooted
psychocultural inseparability of responsibility from
victim, and no shared story seems to do more
toward indoctrinating self-blame than that of Eve
and the Serpent.
Biblical stories, whether or not a given individual

is even aware of their content, are firmly lodged in
our collective psyche. They shape our thinking on
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all matters of import, forming the mythic
structure by which existence is interpreted.
Because we have access to an increasing diversity
of mythic traditions, we often assume ourselves
beyond the reach of traditional interpretations of
the stories told by our recent ancestors. We
really are not beyond their grip, as the
subconscious effects of these interpretations
permeate the thinking which gave rise to our
present agreements about reality. Consider
humanity's “fall from paradise”:
In this mythic story, God (in this case, the plural

Elohim, as opposed to the Babylonian volcano-god
Yahweh) tells Adam and Eve that the fruit of the
knowledge-tree is deadly poison. The serpent tells
Eve that the Elohim only wants to keep knowledge
for itself, and doesn't want humans to have the
power of the Elohim, thus convincing Eve to eat of
the tree. Eve tells Adam what the serpent told
her, and Adam eats too. Then the Elohim comes
along and, upon discovering the incident, promptly
confirms the serpent's words, saying essentially
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that it doesn't want Adam and Eve to share in its
knowledge, and also have the opportunity for
immortality afforded by another tree in paradise:
The Tree of Life. The Elohim then curses
humanity forever by kicking them out of paradise,
on the grounds that disobeying the toughest gang
in town warranted eternal punishment for everyone
on Earth. The specific wording of the curse is
curious, including a statement that Eve's
descendants would have enmity between them and
the serpent; that they would bruise the serpent's
head, and the serpent would bruise their heel.
After giving the original couple some animal-skin
cloths, they were banished from paradise forever,
and woke up on a rock.
There are a variety of interpretations floating

around with regards to this story and the symbolic
interaction of its constituent parts. Traditional
Christian doctrine, which holds a majority
viewpoint in contemporary America, interprets the
story to mean that humans, and specifically female
humans, are at fault for all the troubles afflicting
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our kind. This doctrine has it that a single act of
disobedience was enough to warrant what amounts
to perpetual torture, being the denial of the
paradise humanity was built for. Further, this
plural deity is justified in administering said
torture indefinitely, and it's our own damn fault.
But more the fault of girls than boys. It gets
better, though, because apparently we can be re-
introduced into paradise upon dying, so long as we
accept the messianic status of a certain historical
figure.
Daniel Quinn posits an alternate, anthropological

interpretation of this mythic story. Basically, he
puts forth that the story is a metaphor for the
adoption of totalitarian agriculture amongst
certain tribal peoples living in the fertile crescent
at the “dawn of civilization”. He asserts that the
“knowledge” was a method of unsustainable
farming, and “paradise” was a state of being which
humanity at large possessed, purely by virtue of
living in balance with their physical environment.
Quinn's view, while appealing on a nostalgic level,
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and somewhat commensurate with historical data,
is a view I reject.
I call bullshit on both these interpretations. The

former, because it fails in its childlike manner to
grasp that the essence of myth is metaphor, and
the people who crafted this myth obviously
intended some measure of symbolic meaning with
deeper significance. I say obviously, because deep
symbolic meaning is the rule when looking at the
product of a living oral tradition, which this story
is. The latter I reject on the grounds that it
assumes the distinct absence of the supernatural,
as so much contemporary discourse does, without
accounting for the overt presence of the
supernatural in the story. If Quinn's
interpretation were entirely correct, then why
would the story's keepers maintain that the Elohim
actually made leather cloths for the pair, or imply
a precise moment of separation from the good
graces of divinity?
For my own interpretation of this story's
symbolic meaning, I looked first to the old, and
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then to the older versions of it. I prefer to keep
King James out of things, unless I'm examining
modern social trends. The Jewish scholar Heschel
coined the term “divine pathos”, which serves as an
excellent point of departure for my argument.
The pathology of the divine, as Heschel had it, is
a projection of human emotional logic onto
divinity's incomprehensible nature. Simply put,
humans project their own issues on to an
unknowable divine. Divine pathos goes hand in hand
with something Heschel called “prophetic
sympathy”, wherein the prophet is a person who
can sympathize with the pathos imposed upon the
divine by humanity's collective body. In the
context of this story, the human emotion jealousy
is imposed onto the Elohim. It's this jealousy
which forms the basis for the Elohim's logic in
cursing humanity, as well as the serpent. While
there's value in imposing human emotional logic on
divinity's incomprehensible reasoning, I contend
that there's something deeper going on with this
story.
In older, Babylonian accounts of creation, there's
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a story which bears striking similarity to this one:
That of Tiamat and Absu. Tiamat was the serpent-
goddess who ruled the salty depths, and Absu
ruled the depths of the sweet waters. If Tiamat
is seen as the serpent, and Absu is seen as modern
humanity's predecessor (Eve), a somewhat more
clear story begins to emerge.
In this older story, Tiamat grew tired of all the
other gods, and convinced Absu to join with her in
destroying them, as the serpent convinced Eve to
eat of the fruit of the knowledge tree. By
destroying all the other gods, who can be likened
to the Elohim, Tiamat and Absu hoped to take
possession of all of creation for themselves. To
this end, they defeated these other deities in
battle. Finally, a champion of these other gods
came along in the form of Marduk. Marduk was
the offspring of two of these other gods; a hybrid
of sorts. It was Marduk who defeated Tiamat, by
cutting her in two. Marduk then made one part of
Tiamat into the sky, and the other part into the
earth, essentially forging the physical world with
the broken body of Tiamat.
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In looking at these two versions of the “fall of

man”, I began to see an emerging interpretation of
the symbolic elements they contain which accounts
for the incongruities present in the two
interpretive examples above. The crux of my own
interpretation is in what I believe these stories
are really describing.
If we assume the stories describe events in what
we consider to be historic physical reality, then
they don't make a lot of sense. If, instead, we
consider them a description of humanity coming
from a non-physical (as we know it) state, and into
physicality, their content takes on a much clearer
meaning. Suddenly, the seeming absurdity and
unfairness of divinity with regard to humanity is
made plausible, without disregarding any element
of these specific descriptions of events.
The Sumerian word E.din meant “land between
two rivers”, while the word Adami (or Adam) meant
“Black-headed people”, or simply “the people”. If
the rivers are seen to be Tiamat and Absu, and the
garden to be the non-physical, spiritual space
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occupied by humanity's predecessors, then the
action which caused the Elohim to curse humanity
can be seen as a direct attack, at the behest of
the “sweet waters” which Absu ruled, on the
Elohim (all the deities except for Tiamat and
Absu). While this might be construed as
disobedience, it has more to do with the willful
participation in a war against all but two of the
deities which collectively comprise God-with-a-big-
G.
If this is the case, then the curse of the Elohim
becomes more logical. Being “cast out of the
garden” becomes being confined to the
consciousness of physical bodies, which are the
animal-skin cloths made for humans by the Elohim.
Further, this confinement is within the severed
body of Tiamat herself, which was made by Marduk
into the physical reality we have been made to
inhabit ever since. Our “heels” are “bruised” by
the earth, whose “head” is “bruised” by our
treading upon its face.
This interpretation, I believe, bridges the gap
between the first two interpretations I presented.
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It allows for the conditional validity of each of
them, without imposing any inherent “badness”
onto our own, predetermined position as a species.
Further, it does away with the sexist undertones
of the traditional biblical interpretations of this
story, while accounting for their origins through
the “divine pathos” imposed by our ancestors onto
the Elohim.
My intention with the above isn't to provide any

kind of “right” interpretation for this old story's
symbolism. Instead, what I'm trying to get at, is
a rational method of developing useful interpretive
frameworks for our stories, which are also
plausibly accurate. In developing our facilities in
this regard, we are able to assume ownership of
the stories we inherit in a more meaningful way.
Instead of allowing our reality to be dictated by
common interpretations of their literal content, we
can use these stories as tools to explore our own
nature, and begin to truly own our own days.
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Conclusion
Pulling together the ideas I've put forth in the

preceding pages in such a way as to firmly define
their relationships to one another would not, I
believe, be very helpful. For me, as the author, to
attempt to take responsibility for the conclusions
that you, the reader, should draw would be to miss
the point. Simply put, that's your job, not mine.
Any moral stance I've taken here, in actual word
or any seeming undertone, can be summed up with
my firm belief that, if we do good things, and don't
do bad things, and are honest with ourselves about
what this means for us, then life will get better.
It's easy to allow ourselves to be deceived by
others, especially when we allow others to dictate
reality for us. It's even easier to deceive
ourselves, but the value in self-deception lies only
in its ability to compel us to do the right thing
accidentally, in spite of the conscious, fear-based
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objections our egos raise when they feel
threatened.
Fear is the only real tool of human oppression. All
other manipulations are mere variations on the
theme. Fear changes outcomes by denying clarity
to its participants, and is fueled only by the power
granted to it in the psyche of the individual
afflicted by its befuddling nature. In the
information this written work puts forth, I
occasionally alluded to the massive fears we're fed
in present society. This was intentionally done, for
the purpose of exploring its significant effect on
the ideas we formulate when attempting to
address the difficulties in pursuing effective
spirituality in the context of our contemporary
psychocultural environment.
Fear is bullshit of the highest magnitude. Letting
go of our fears is unavoidably and demonstrably
useful, as well as extraordinarily gratifying.
Submitting ourselves to the inhuman will of these
fears is quite the opposite, however rational these
fears may seem in a given moment. Submission to
fear is a lack of trust in the unknown, a lack of
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faith in the unknowable, and the only way we can
lose out in life.
As life's complexity continues to grow, the
balance between individuated and group mind is
forced to become increasingly fluid and dynamic.
The socially prescribed responses accessible to us
are unavoidably inadequate in their ability to
address this rapid shifting of experiential context.
What I've done here is describe a process. One I
can only hope you'll find useful.
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The End of the Book Section
As promised, here's a section that might clarify

some of the information I presented. Here you'll
find an alphabetical list of terms I've used, along
with a brief explanation of the concepts they
represent. I've tried to include references, in
case you want to find out more about some of
these things. For clarity's sake, there's a brief
synopsis of the process I'm talking about. Though
I asserted the necessity of “putting it all
together” yourself in the conclusion, I thought a
process summary might be helpful. And finally, a
bit about me, to give you a better idea of where
I'm coming from.
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What Was That Guy Talking About?
Bullshit—You might be wondering where to find

more information on the implications of this word.
The only thoughtful work on the specific subject
“bullshit” that I know of was written by a guy
named Harry G. Frankfurt. His 2005 Princeton
University Press book, titled On Bullshit, is a fairly
comprehensive academic treatment of the matter.
Complexity and Complexity Theory—I talk a lot

about complexity. The idea is that individuals and
societies become more complex as they attempt to
solve problems. This strategy is effective to a
certain point, but suffers the effects of
diminishing returns just like any other strategic
investment of energy. In my opinion, some of the
best work on the subject, when dealing with
complexity as it applies to whole societies, was
done by an anthropologist named Joseph Tainter.
His best known work was published in 1988, and is
titled The Collapse of Complex Societies.
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Diminishing Returns—A.k.a. diminishing marginal

returns. A.k.a. the law of diminishing returns.
This concept has its roots in economic theory.
Essentially, it has to do with the ratio of energy
you put into a system, as compared to the energy
you get out of that system. Up to a certain point
in any system, you can keep putting more energy in
if you want to get more energy out. At that
certain point, usually modeled as the top of a bell
curve, things change. All of the sudden, you start
getting less energy out than you put in, because
waste in the system begins to consume more
energy than you can put in.
Dynamic—Now here's a word I really like. It

comes from the Greek word for power, dunamis,
and has a variety of meanings, depending on the
context it's used in. When applied to a system, it
means “characterized by constant change or
activity” (O. E. D.). Often it is contrasted with the
word “static” which basically means unchanging.
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Energetic System—Anything can be viewed as an
energetic system. All of existence is made up of
such systems. From the body to the planet to the
social order, everything can be looked at as purely
a function of the transformation of one type of
energy into another. In beginning to look at the
energetic systems we take part in, we can begin to
get a more “realistic” picture of what's going on.
Entropy—Entropy comes from the Greek trope,

meaning transformation. In physics, it has to do
with the unavailability of thermal energy for
conversion. I use it to describe the random,
chaotic elements always present in any energetic
system as it breaks down over time.
Evil—You might have noticed that I use the word

evil a bit. I define evil here as anything that acts
in a manner that's disconnected from the divine
nature of existence.
Evolutionary Psychology—An “experimental” branch

of modern psychology, which focuses on how we
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humans have evolved to adapt to our environment.
It's largely based on the idea that our physical
mechanisms for adapting to our environment
haven't changed as fast as we've changed the
environment; an idea I find useful (in case you
didn't notice). As this subject applies to
spirituality, some of the best work I've seen is
being done by a guy named David Lukoff in
California. He founded the spiritual competency
website, which is a resource for mental health
practitioners seeking to more appropriately
integrate spirituality into their practice. This guy
even went so far as to get “spiritual crisis” to be
looked at as an “official” mental health diagnosis.
Holographic—Some years back, a guy named

Michael Talbot wrote a book called The
Holographic Universe. Based largely on
connections he drew between ancient mystical
world views and modern quantum mechanics, Talbot
asserted that the whole universe was one big
hologram. Now, what that means, in part, is that
there is no measurable objective reality. Also, it
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means that any singular portion of the universe
contains the pattern for the totality of the
universe. Regardless of the actuality of our
unknowable situation, I've found the language
Talbot introduced into the public psyche incredibly
useful in describing experiences of non-ordinary
reality. And reality, really, is never anything but
non-ordinary.
Neomythic—This is a word I had thought I made

up, until I discovered a San Francisco musical
group with the same name on the internet. In
using this word, I hope to introduce the idea that
we have entered a new mythic era. Our daily lives
are filled with as many or more strangenesses,
miracles, and archetypal struggles as the best
fantasy stories I've read, and so many people
believe us to be on the brink of phenomenal change
that it may as well be the case, that I think a new
name for the historic moment we find ourselves in
is in order.
Power Elite—This is the group of people whose
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agenda is the driving force behind just about
everything we see, read, or hear in our culture. I
got the term from a guy named William Domhoff,
out of a book he wrote called Who Rules America.
Conspiracy theories aside, the people who comprise
our power elite are very real, and demonstrably
harmful to the larger body of humanity. If you
want to know why something has happened, check
out who benefits the most from the happening. If
that something is both bad and public, these guys
usually have a hand in it, and nearly always derive
benefit from it.
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Process Synopsis
This book describes a process; one I believe to be

universal. This process is spiritual in nature, and
often takes place in a nonlinear fashion. The
version of this process presented here is intended
for our present cultural context, though the
process itself is timeless. Here's a step-by-step
breakdown of its content.
Step One: Personally recognize that there is

indeed a problem.
Step Two: Frame that problem in a way that allows

for it to be addressed.
Step Three: Seek Help in addressing the problem.
Step Four: Address the problem in everyday life.
Too simple? Too vague? Here it is again, with

some actual substance.
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Step One: Personally recognize that the way you

are living is out of balance with your spiritual
center, and that our collective spiritual body has
been trying to tell us precisely this all along.
Step Two: Personally recognize that this out of

balance living is primarily a result of being brought
up in an unhealthy culture, and is programmed into
you just as thoroughly as anything can be. Those
around you are in the same boat, and most people
would rather not think about it. This is because
thinking about it is painful, and we've been
programmed to fear painful experiences.
Step Three: Find or create a suitable death and

rebirth ritual. Symbolic death is the only
effective way to deprogram yourself. Seek
support in this process, both from those who've
gone through it, and those who are engaged in
attempting to go through it. By the way, it will
happen all on its own for many people, but
consciously engaging the process makes it more
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fun. Also, doing it by choice leaves you less
susceptible to those people who would take
advantage of your temporary vulnerability, as well
as providing you with the tools to develop a
language to name your strangeness to those who'll
hate and fear it.
Step Four: Find or create, with at least one other

person (though more than that is usually better),
an effective spiritual model. Most of this book is a
description of this process. The specific model is
less important than its everyday effectiveness. It
needs to bridge the gap between internal and
external realities, as well as the gap between your
biological and psychocultural environments. A big
part of its purpose is to provide a means for
making appropriate decisions intuitively. I say
intuitively, because we just aren't clever enough to
reason out the right thing most of the time. If we
were, we never would have gotten ourselves into
this mess. Once an effective spiritual model has
been identified as the right one for you, adopt and
integrate that model. Go slowly at first, if you
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want it to “stick”.
Step Five: Screw around for a while. Try stuff

out, and don't really commit to much besides
listening to your “inner voice”.
Step Six: Begin working with other people to

realize a shared vision. Start small, and try to
make sure everyone's needs are being met before
moving on to bigger things. I don't really go too
much into how to meet these other people, because
that's something everyone needs to figure out for
themselves.
Step Seven: Forget about the “rest of the world”,

and focus on everyday life. Use shared stories to
begin describing the “real” world in an honest, and
above all, useful way.
Step Eight: Redefine your own life, both in how you

see it, and in how you communicate it to those
around you, by developing a personal narrative that
reflects your new world-view. Combine this
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personal narrative with those of others to
redefine your new shared reality. Examine many
stories in terms of this new, shared reality to
uncover their relevance, usefulness, and meaning in
reconnecting with the larger context of society.
Step Nine: Repeat as many times as necessary.
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A Bit About The Author
I'm not really sure what to tell you, so I'll just

throw a few things out there. I'll make good on my
promise to highlight a few relevant personal
experiences, I guess, and try not to go on too long.
I'm a person who really likes to do stuff, so I've
done many things. I'm also an obsessive insomniac
who happens to really like learning, so I have far
too much information bouncing around in my head
at any given time.
I could tell you about how I'm different. I could
write about knowing death, or how I sweat glitter
and see the future in dreams. I could tell you
about how I'm just like anyone, describing achy
joints when a storm blows in, or the value I place in
family. I won't, though. You probably wouldn't
find these things useful. Instead, I'll share just a
couple of experiences.
The psychiatrist looked at me from across his

desk, holding a drug company gift pen without
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really taking notes. He wore a solemn expression
with a hint of disdain; a perfect image of Freudian
thought. He told me that I was lucky. That, two
thousand years ago, I would have been a respected
shaman; going so far as to compare me to John the
Baptist. He told me I was lucky because, with the
advent of modern medicine, my condition could be
seen as the brain chemistry imbalance it was. That
we were smarter now than to see it as a gift. He
told me I was stricken with an incurable sickness,
and would be a burden on society forever, but anti-
psychotic medication would help me be less of a
burden. So I was lucky to live in modern times.
A few months later, the doctors told me they'd
been mistaken. After all the tests and
conversations, they decided that I wasn't
schizophrenic. Or schizoeffective. Or bipolar. Or
psychotic not-otherwise-specified. Their final
diagnosis was pretty different than any of these
things. They finally decided that what I was was
intelligent, eccentric, and generally depressed
about living in a world that had no place for me.
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I stood in my living room, happier than I should
have been. It was about five in the morning, and I
hurt all over. I had fallen thirty feet a couple of
hours prior, through the place where an outdoor
stair should have been at my neighbor's house. It
was a long way down, and I remember thinking
first, ”This is really going to hurt.” Then, ”I'm
probably going to die now.” I landed on my back, in
a basement level entry way, with my legs on the
stairs.
I didn't lose consciousness. The moment before
impact, I let go of everything. The moment after
impact, I took a deep breath. It hurt. Everything
hurt, but I just started laughing. I was alive.
Really, really alive. Back in the living room, where I
started this story, I was looking at a good friend.
He was sitting, watching me. My left tricep was
hanging by a thread, looking like an orange-sized
lump just above my elbow. I knew something had
to be done about it, so I did the only thing I knew
how to do. Grasping the torn muscle in my right
hand, I breathed into it and put my arm back
together. The pain was indescribable. The light in
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the room appeared to change, as if everything
grew brighter of its own volition. I don't know
quite how it worked, but it did. My friend turned a
shade of green as this happened, and looked like he
was going to lose consciousness. I got him some
juice, and he recovered. Then we laughed
together, acutely aware of the inappropriate
nature of that laughter. It still felt good; far
better then the grimness of the doctors who
examined me later. I laughed then too; their
expressions of disbelief when I refused
intravenous painkillers were pretty funny. They
just didn't get it when I told them I wanted to
feel my body, especially after such a serious
injury.
I didn't have any warning. Maybe there were

signs, but I couldn't see them. Maybe the demon-
clawing-at-my-brain migraines came with greater
frequency or intensity. It was hard to tell. There
was a premonition of sorts; a sensation too subtle
to name that followed me for a while. I wasn't
sleeping more than four hours at a time, but that
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was nothing new. I often had the sleep habits of a
cat. Mostly, it felt like there was something
important I had forgotten about. Mostly, it felt
like there was something coming, and I couldn't
tell what.
The first months in the new house had passed
quickly. The seven of us who'd met in five
different states fell into our respective routines.
For my part, the paintings I busied myself with
were piling up. Only one had sold so far here, and
that a cheap one. All my other leads had petered
out, and it was depressing. I'd learned long ago
not to judge the value of my work on the strength
of its sales, but it was still depressing. I was
depressed.
To be honest, I'm not even sure what it was that
happened, or when exactly the happening occurred.
I'd read everything of interest in our library, and
spent the bulk of the time I wasn't painting in
simple meditation. This wasn't new by any means;
I'd been doing it with relative regularity for over a
decade.
What was new was a sense of overwhelming
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failure. In the past, my sense of failure had
always been tied to the possibility of future
success in my mind. I'd gotten older in the mean
time, though, and had to come to terms with the
fact that maybe I was just another schmuck who
lied to himself about the likelihood of future
success. After all these years, I was still poor;
still living week to week; day to day. In those dark
moments we all know so well, I forgot that I'd
been living this way for years; forgotten that my
personal “faith-based economic policy” kept
miraculously making ends meet just in the nick-of-
time. The odd jobs I worked were usually enough,
but it only took one bad week to send my meager
finances cascading into a seemingly impossible
situation.
So it was against this background that I found
myself jumping at an opportunity to fly into JFK
for a visit with my father in Brooklyn. While the
trip would have been worth it purely for vacation's
sake, and we had a great time together, something
larger began to take shape internally with me. This
larger something, which I can only name as a
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growing realization, came out of the acute
similarity I began to notice in the conversations I
was having.
It didn't matter if I was talking with anarchists
or in an Alanon meeting; with indigenous medicine
people or mountain-dwelling sheep farmers; the
spiritual undertones of the conversations felt the
same. Some years back, I'd identified a growing
need for the “progressive” communities I was
involved with to begin addressing spiritual matters
in an everyday manner. While I'd done quite a bit
to encourage this in my own circles, it hadn't fully
occurred to me that these conversations were
beginning to happen across the board, amongst
people in all walks of life.
Finally, I began to see the “need” I had identified
as stemming from an authentic human desire that
our society was fundamentally unable to address;
that the reason this desire couldn't be addressed
by our society had to do with the limitations we
placed on our own communications with ourselves
and each other. Simply put, it wasn't the job of
culture to meet our needs, but rather it was our
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job to engage the cooperative process of beginning
to create a culture that could effectively address
these needs. Like so many things, it seemed
obvious once I'd gotten it; that this process was
what I'd been engaged in all along.
When I got back to Minneapolis, I began putting
together much of the process documentation I'd
accumulated over the years. In under a month, it
became apparent that there was a book there.
Another few weeks, and I'd drafted a nearly
unintelligible presentation of these ideas. As I
began sharing this draft with friends and family
across the country, and incorporating their ideas
into the editing process, this book came into being
as the tangible documentation of a universal
process I'd engaged in the context of my own
“group”. Hopefully, the language it introduces will
help to facilitate the larger, cultural engagement
of this universal process.
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207

Neomythic Alchemy

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Neomythic Alchemy: A No Bullshit Approach to Everyday

Life, at its beginning, is like a raindrop falling into

Our culture has transformed the process of

Part of why I'm writing this is to try and

We can know only what we know, and that is very

I used to believe in the future. I used to believe

The madness we face is mirrored in the tone of

Section One: Personalizing Transformation

Defining an Effective Spiritual Model...................43

Evolution One: The First Bridge...........................57

Evolution Two: Redefining the Change................65

Section Two: Cooperative Spirituality

Power, Efficiency, and the Group.........................79

The Spirit Worker's Role.....................................103

~Side Note: The Early Christian Church...........111

Section Three: Redefining Everyday Change

Beyond the Bullshit: Our Stories.........................165

Owning Our Days....................................................183

The End of the Book Section...............................199

And thus my friend, mankind, does sow

This book isn't about religion, politics, or any of

The value of a story lies not in its ability to

In a society of summaries and flashing snippets,

Everything we consciously know comes either

In the following chapters, I'll discuss my

Evolution is always progressing towards

The self can be likened to a glass of water; as our

We're all programmed thoroughly. Most of us

Our global psychocultural system creates an

"Brainwashed" is a term that came out of our

Defining an Effective Spiritual Model

I've chosen to use the term “effective spiritual

Characteristics of an effective spiritual model:

~Reflects holographic energetic systems, with

Near as any of us could tell, each of these

The process of creating an effective spiritual

After looking at what describes effective

I believe, literally, that Godh is everything; that

This statement of belief could form the basis for

From this point on, we're in a sort of no-man's-

Evolution 1: The Bridge

Okay, so there's this bridge over a rushing river.

So these folks stagger up to the guy who had tied

The “bridge” in this little story symbolizes a

Evolution 2: Redefining the Change

Many scholars have suggested quasi-linear

The importance of thinking honestly in this

The bulk of the benefits to honest thinking, with

Power, Efficiency, and the Group

It's pretty trendy to talk about power. New-

Before I go any further, I want to make special

I first noticed EFOT in my work with a

Think about breath for a moment; how your

The list could go on and on, but I fear I might be

The Spirit Worker's Role

"Civilization" has degraded one of our most

Medicine people aren't made, they're born.

People of vision, who are able to think on many

Side Note: The Early Christian Church

When Christianity first came into being, this “big

Redefining Everyday Change

Fire is a natural part of many forest's ecology.

The most effective dissent is action, and the